


The Angels On The Spaceship

by laufeeyson



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 03:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 22,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/908141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laufeeyson/pseuds/laufeeyson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading! If you made it to the end, I'm grateful, because this was my first ever fan fiction!</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Speed Bump

The Doctor bounded around the central console, like a ballerina with flat feet – flicking switches and pulling levers at the same time. He had grown used to his new TARDIS now, and everything he did, he did with precision. Even through all of this though, he still managed to mess up the directions. Amy sat across from him on a railing, kicking her legs back and forwards while watching the Doctor work.

“Where are we going?” She asked with interest, even though the Doctor’s answer might not even have any truth to it.

“I don’t know. Where do you want to go?” The Doctor replied with a question of his own.

Amy answered with only a disbelieving glare. The Doctor looked up at this and froze on the spot – Amy could be scary when she wanted to.

“Err. Okay. We’ll go . . . Um. Somewhere.” The Doctor said, he wasn’t thinking things through as he should have been at this point.

It was then that Rory came into view, rubbing his eyes and giving a huge yawn. He stretched his arms above his head whilst he walked towards Amy.

“Rory.” Amy said, looking at her watch.

“What?” Rory asked, jumping up to sit beside her.

“You’ve been asleep for fourteen hours.” She said, a little angrily, but her face did show a certain humour.

The Doctor stayed out of this, knowing at any time that it could turn into an argument – and it would end up being his fault, even though truth be told he had done nothing to effect Rory’s sleeping habits.

“Oh. Really?” Rory asked, as if she would be joking.

“Yes. Really. What are you? Pregnant?” She gave a snort of a laugh, raising an eyebrow.

The Doctor though, was a little less held back with his laughter – he gave a loud, single chuckle. Amy glared at him, even though it was her joke, and the Doctor dropped his head and returned to messing with the controls.

“What!? No! I’m not pregnant!” Rory protested, looking at Amy hurtfully.

Amy tapped Rory’s belly. “I don’t know. You’re putting on a bit of weight.”

Rory’s chin dropped, then his expression turned to a frown and he swivelled on the bar angrily – so that he was facing neither the Doctor nor Amy and folded his arms. Like a child in a strop.

“Now I’ve done it.” Amy grinned and jumped down from the barrier to the Doctor’s side. She looked at the screen attached to the column of glass and tried to tell what it said. She was getting better at deciphering the strange language that came up on the screen. The Doctor stared at her, pursing his lips.

“Nope. Nothing. What does it say?” Amy asked, squinting at it as if it would help her to read it.

The Doctor took two leaping steps over to her and used her as a barrier – so he stopped just in time to look at the screen. “It says we’re currently in the Tensai solar system – in the coat hanger cluster – in the Milky Way. Well. Obviously it doesn’t actually say the Milky Way –or the coat hanger cluster - since that’s what you humans called it. There’s more than one species in the galaxy so they have to be given an all round classification.” The Doctor explained.

Amy looked at the Doctor, interested. “And that classification is?”

“I don’t know.” The Doctor answered with a smile.

Amy froze, gaping. “You don’t . . . know. You know, that’s really, really, not very useful.”

“Well. You never needed to know before, so, nothing changes, you’re still the tiny human you always will be.” The Doctor grinned and clapped his hands together. “Got it! Let’s go to Beta Heron.”

“Where?” Rory asked, turning around again.

“Beta Heron.” The Doctor repeated, frowning.

“Where’s that?” Rory continued.

“Err. In the Heron solar system.” The Doctor explained more.

Rory shook his head, telling the Doctor that the answer wasn’t good enough.

“Hey! Look! If I tell you every time we go somewhere – where we are going exactly, we’d still be on Earth. So just put up with it!” He said loudly.

“Yeah Rory.” Amy said with a grin, taking the Doctor’s words as if she would have used them had he not spoke.

The Doctor looked at Amy, frowning.

“Sorry.” Amy said quietly and walked away – returning to her seat.

“Right. Let’s go.” The Doctor said and pulled a final leaver.

The TARDIS lurched to one side, indicating that it had left whatever ground it was stood on. The central column groaned as it began powering up.

 

It took a few seconds for the TARDIS to actually start moving, and when it did, it caused Rory to fall from the railings and hit the grated floor.

“Ow!” He complained angrily, and pulled himself up into a sitting position – before he was knocked over again.

Both Amy and the Doctor were being flung around like ragdolls in a child’s school bag as he ran to catch the bus. The Doctor was laughing like a maniac, even though it should have started getting boring for him by now. It was strange that he bore no bruises from the amount of times he’d been thrown into things. As the TARDIS began to settle in a normal movement the Doctor managed to stand up, as did Amy and Rory.

Rory was still complaining about the stabbing pain he felt in the back of his head. “You know. You could have told me I was going to be flung across the room before you let it happen.” He said angrily.

The Doctor knew more blame was about to be thrown on his shoulders before Rory said this. “Yeah, I do know. But so should have you. You’ve been here plenty of times before.”

“That’s no excuse.” Rory said with a frown.

“Yes it is!” The Doctor desperately tried to defend himself against Rory’s accusations. It was like being an Atheist between two Christians – they wouldn’t blame each other, so of course, it would always end up being the scientist’s fault.

“Look. Rory. Just forget-“ Amy was trying to stop them from arguing, but was cut off when a massive vibration ran throughout the TARDIS – knocking her to her feet once more.

The Doctor, surprisingly had managed to keep his balance – even though he was a bit of a clumsy mover. Rory also had no luck in staying upright, and hit his head on the floor again. The Doctor looked around at the TARDIS, wondering what could have caused that.

“What the hell was that!?” Amy yelled loudly as the TARDIS groaned under the pressure of trying to stabilise itself again.

“I think it might have been a inter-dimensional speed bump.” The Doctor answered, hopping back over to the screen to check. “Yeah, it was.”

“And what’s that?” Rory asked for Amy.

“Well. Not really a speed bump. It’s a gap, or a distortion in space and time, or to be specific, it’s a combination of lost parts of time mixed with parts that are never going to happen because of it.” The Doctor explained while he tried to get the TARDIS to stabilise again.

Rory and Amy stared at the Doctor, not understanding.

“Okay. Look. To put it simply. Say you have corrupted data in a computer, yes?” The Doctor asked, there was probably going to be a few stops in his sentences to make sure that Amy and Rory were following.

“Yeah.” Amy nodded.

“And your trying to run the program that has the corrupted file in it.” The Doctor continued.  
“Right. And?” Amy asked again.

“Say you were installing it, rather than running it. Your installation program would tell you that it couldn’t find the right file, and try to establish if you wanted to skip it, or search for it?”

“Yeah. I’m following Doctor. The more stops you make the more I’ll forget.” Amy complained.

“Right, sorry. Well. The ‘speed bump’ is like that question – you’ll get a pop up and it will stop the installation process. Do you get it?”

“Oh. Right.” Rory said in realisation.

“Maybe I should speak in metaphors more often.” The Doctor said to himself.

“What does it mean that we hit it?” Amy questioned.

“Well. It means that’s something’s gone wrong. And we’re probably not going to end up where we wanted to go. Sometimes the TARDIS doesn’t know which option to choose and we might end up inside the corrupted data.” He said, using both the metaphor and what was happening to try and explain, it probably just made it even more confusing.

“That’s a bad thing, yes?” Rory asked.

“Yes. No. A bit. It depends on the circumstances. We can get out if it is bad.” The Doctor said. “Unless it’s so bad that the TARDIS needs a break.” He said, pursing his lips.

“And that’s a bad thing, right?” Rory asked again.

“Yes. That’s a bad thing.”


	2. Defying Gravity

“So. Where are we?” Rory asked when the TARDIS came to an abrupt halt.

“Err. Let me see.” The Doctor said, pulling the screen around to him so he could see. “Well. We’re nowhere apparently.” He said.

“Nowhere . . . ? Does that mean –“ Rory began, but didn’t finish.

“Yes. That means we are inside the Dimension Rift.” The Doctor said.

“So you’re calling it a Dimension Rift now are you, how many names are you going to make up before you stick to them?” Rory complained.

“I don’t know, I’ve lost count already. Problem?”

“Yes.”

“Me too. Now, let’s see where we are.” The Doctor said, and jumped down the ramp towards the door.

Amy followed cautiously, wondering why, even though it probably meant certain death, the Doctor would still open that door. Rory however, just shook his head and rolled his eyes, then followed them out. When the Doctor opened the blue doors – that looked totally out of place in the bright orange room – he closed them almost immediately.

“Err . . . “ The Doctor said, looking at the back of the door.

“What, what is it?” Amy asked worriedly.

The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Amy, then turned completely. “I know I’ve been greeted plenty of times by guns in my life, after opening these doors, but, well, I’ve never been greeted by this many guns and a man holding a sheet of chlorophyll.” He pursed his lips.

“How can you tell it’s a sheet of chlorophyll?” Amy asked.

“Because it reeks.” The Doctor said. “Who wants to go first? I’m sure no matter what happens we’re all going to end up unconscious somehow.”

Amy looked incredulously at the Doctor, and shook her head – Rory also did the same and caused the Doctor to frown.

“Right. Fine then. I’ll go first. As usual, and end up the one to not know what’s happening and then have you rely on me to explain to you what’s going on later.” The Doctor clapped his hands and grinned sarcastically. He pushed open the door and beamed at the people who greeted him.

The Doctor looked at one of the gun bearing aliens for a couple of seconds, before he was jumped from behind. He slipped and fell to the floor – lucky not to break his nose. Amy and Rory, hearing the commotion, rushed outside and found themselves grabbed before they could ask the Doctor if he was okay.

The Doctor was lifted back up to his feet harshly. “Hey! Careful!” He said, his arms feeling as if they might be tugged off. He was already cuffed and being dragged down the hallway away from Amy and Rory.

 

The Doctor found himself in what looked like a cell, sat at the very back of it - the furthest part from to door. Of course he’d end up as far away from the door as possible – it was only natural. He looked around, apart for the door, there was nothing interesting in this confined space. The Doctor tried to reach into his pocket, but found the movement was impossible – he also noticed that his usually large bodied hair was now flat against his face and in his eye. He blew at it, trying to get it out of the way so that he could see, but it refused to move. This caused the Doctor to think for a moment, wondering why his body wasn’t working – then he realised.

“Gravity de-stabilizers . . .” He said aloud, as if someone could hear him.

This was a problem, if he couldn’t move, he couldn’t get out – and if he couldn’t get out, he couldn’t rescue Amy and Rory. For some reason though, he felt as if he was the one that needed rescuing (for once). The Doctor heard a clanging noise, like someone dragging a finger down a barred metal fence – which was probably exactly what it was. Except, when it came into view, it was someone dragging a key across the gratings at the top of the cell.

“Hey Newbie.” That someone called ominously.

“I guess you’re talking to me. Though I’ve been in prisons before so I’m not that new to-“

“Did I ask you to speak?” The person asked, irritated.

“No, but I thought we were starting a conver-“

“Will you shut up?” He asked, half politely.

“If I can’t finish my sent-“

“I said shut up!” He said loudly this time, banging his fist against the metal.

“Okay.” The Doctor said, and if he could, he would have mimicked zipping his mouth shut.

“Now that you’ve decided to be quiet, my boss wants to come and see you.” He said slowly, making sure the Doctor understood.

“Your boss? Who’s that the-“

“Shut up!” He said again, the Doctor was just making everything worse for himself.

The Doctor was beginning to get irritated by that fact that he couldn’t finish what he was saying.

“My boss. My leader. My king.” The man answered the question the Doctor had started to ask. “He wonders why you came, what you came for, how you got here, and who you are. And then. After you’ve explained most of that, he’ll decide whether he wants to eradicate you, keep you, or lock you up for the rest of eternity. So I’d say you’d better shut up when you’re told to and save yourself.”

“Oh. Right. Amazing. Lovely. I can’t wait to meet him. I’m sure we’ll get along swimmi-“

“You’re not doing very well with this whole quiet thing.” He said.

“Sorry.” The Doctor apologized.

The man sighed, slapping his forehead with his hand at the annoying fact that the Doctor still didn’t get it. “Sit still. I’ll be back.”

“I can’t move , remember.” The Doctor said.  
The man held his hands out as if he was strangling the Doctor, even though they were separated by a thick metal wall. He relaxed, gave a sigh, and walked off to fetch his boss.


	3. Five Sources of Starlight

Amy and Rory were dragged together into a large open room with a massive glass paned window in front of them. They were cuffed, and had no hope of running off. Amy wondered briefly where the Doctor was, before her thoughts were interrupted by someone speaking.

“Welcome.” The deep voice announced as he walked into the same room. “I hope you enjoyed your short stay, since you’re going to be leaving soon.”

“Why?” Rory questioned the humanoid figure – he looked human enough anyway.

“Because, you came uninvited. As for your other friend. He’s our source of information.”

“What? The Doctor? Phhff, you’ll be lucky to get anything out of him.” Amy protested.

“He seems to know more that you ever will.” The man shoved his hands in his pockets as he paced in front of the window. “Any way, we’ve got him. We don’t need you.”

“Why don’t you need us? We’ve got a bulk load of information.” Amy said, pulling on the chains behind her back.

“A bulk load of useless information you mean?”

“How are you going to get rid of us then? Because I assure you, no matter what you try, we’ll get out of it.” Amy said, grinning.

“I’d like to see you try to get out of a star.” The man laughed loudly, almost evilly.

“What do you mean get out of a star?” Rory questioned, looking out of the window.

The man pointed towards the same window Rory was looking out of. “See the five bright lights out there?”

“Yeah. What about them?” Amy asked.

“Well. I’m going to let you choose which one you think looks the prettiest, then I’m going to let you go on a little holiday.” The man grinned and looked at the both of them.

“A holiday?” Amy asked.

Just then, someone strode in through the doors. “Sorry to interrupt you, sir. But your prisoner’s ready to be spoken to.” He said loudly across the hall.

“I’ll deal with you two later.” The man said, then looked up at the guards that were restraining them. “Take them to the hold, but make sure to keep them near the exit for easier access.” He ordered.  
The men nodded, then dragged Amy and Rory out of the door.


	4. Questioning Existance

The Doctor breathed out a sigh as he waiting for the guard to return with this person he was suppose to speak too. Maybe it would give him a chance to get out of this ghastly cell and investigate the place. The clump of shoes told the Doctor someone was approaching, and if he listened carefully he could hear two sets of footsteps.

“I’m back newbie.” The guard said.

“Great. I was starting to get bored. Must be a large ship if it takes you ten minutes to get somewhere.” The Doctor said.

“I’m sorry sir.” The guard said, obviously to his leader. “He won’t shut up. No matter how many times I tell him to.”

“It’s alright, I’ll sort him out. Open the door.” The leader said.

He was stood in front of the door when it automatically opened. The Doctor felt pressure lift from his shoulders at the same time the door swung open. He fidgeted where he sat.

“Oh. That’s much better.” The Doctor said, stretching.

The leader came through into the room and shut the door gently behind him, it took a couple of moments for him to close it – since it was so heavy – but it was worth it rather than loosing his prisoner.

“So. I’m guessing you are ‘boss-leader-king-thing.’” The Doctor said to him.

He just frowned in return at the way the Doctor referred to him.

“I’m just using the words your friend here did.” He said, pointing to the person by the controls.

“It doesn’t matter how you refer to me. Because you’re not going to have to for long. But if you want a name, I am Rhen Carson.” Rhen answered.

“Oh. Okay Rhen.” The Doctor answered.

Rhen continued to walk forwards until he was standing in front of the Doctor, he then used a clawed finger to lift up the Doctor’s head to get a better look at him.

“Ow. That’s sharp.” The Doctor complained, each time he moved his jaw it just caused him more pain.

“That doesn’t bother me.” Rhen said, his eyes scanned the Doctor’s face.

“No. Of course it wouldn’t.”

“Maybe it will give you some lessons, so you learn when to keep your mouth shut.” Rhen said, then using his other clawed hand – he pressed his finger against the Doctor’s forehead.

“Ow. No. Wait. What are you doing?” The Doctor asked, feeling the tip of his nail press against his skin.

“Making sure you don’t go telling me any fibs.” Rhen said, his finger started to glow slightly, not that the Doctor could see it.

“Hey! No! That’s taking away my will!” The Doctor said, trying to pull away – but it was difficult since he was still sat and his back was already against the wall.

“That’s the whole point.” Rhen said. He closed his eyes, thinking.

“But you can’t!” The Doctor protested.

“Yes. I can. Don’t worry. If I choose to let you live you can keep it.” Rhen said.

The Doctor closed his eyes, trying to block out the strange sensation in his head. He knew that if he kept thinking he might be able to block it all together. He felt a scratch forming on his head from the way his brow creased with the fingernail still on it.

“Your not dead yet.” Rhen said, watching his face as he struggled.

The Doctor didn’t say anything, he was too busy working out how to stop this invasion into his head.

“And there’s no point trying to stop it – it’s already done.” Rhen said, pulling his finger away.

The Doctor opened one eye, looking at Rhen – he had been expecting a considerable amount of pain, so when he took his finger away without the Doctor feeling anything he became a little disorientated. The Doctor opened his other eye and looked around, as if something was missing – which probably was.

“Okay. I was expecting more than that.” The Doctor said, sitting up now that Rhen had left his face alone.

“Nope. That’s it. I told you – I just don’t want you telling any fibs.” Rhen stood up properly and looked down at the Doctor. “Now it’s time to start asking you questions. If you don’t answer, you will die. We’ve still got your friends that we can question if you don’t give us what we need.”

“I assure you. Any questions you have. I can answ-“

“You speak when a question is spoken, that is all.” Rhen said, frowning.

“Oh. Not again.”

Rhen sighed, then folded his arms. “Who are you?”

“I thought you already knew? Oh well then, I’m the Doctor.”

“Yes. I know that much. But who are you?” Rhen persisted.

“Um. Oh. Right. I’m a Time Lord, from Gallifrey – Woah that was weird.” The Doctor said, he hadn’t been planning on saying that – he looked around as if someone else was in the room and had spoke for him.

“Alright. That’s a good start. But they’re all dead. So. How are you still here?” Rhen knew he couldn’t have been lying, but there was no way he could be alive.

“No. Well. Yeah. Most of them. I’m the only one left.” The Doctor said, this time he answered consciously.

“Okay. But how?”

“Because I didn’t die.” The Doctor said.

“Trying to be funny now, huh? That does have consequences you know.” He threatened, wiggling his left index finger.

“Um. Yeah. I know.” The Doctor answered.

“So how did you get here?” Rhen continued to probe answers from him.

“Well. That blue box I came out of was my method. But, I didn’t come here willingly.” The Doctor answered.

“Okay. Tell me what that box does, and what do you mean by willingly?”

“That box is called the TARDIS. And it travels through time – It’s bigger on the inside you see. Also. I came here by accident after hitting a Dimensional Crack . . . wait – was that what I called it?” The Doctor asked himself.

“I know what you’re talking about.” Rhen said. “Now tell me, this is the last question, who are your friends?”

The Doctor was suddenly reluctant to talk, he didn’t mind talking about himself much, but telling a stranger about his best friends was different.

“Oh. Not that friendly huh? Alright. We’ll get rid of them.” Rhen said, raising an eyebrow.

“No. Don’t hurt them.” The Doctor protested.

“Well tell me. Or you all die – you, probably much slower.” Rhen said.

The Doctor felt the weight of this threat, but tried to ignore it. He sighed, dropping his head while he spoke. “Amy and Rory . . . “ He said.

“And what of them?” Rhen asked.

The Doctor was speaking mainly to save them, rather than himself. “They’re Humans. From Earth.” The Doctor was being rather obvious.

“How can they be Human? The Earth was destroyed centuries ago.” Rhen frowned.

“I told you. The TARDIS travels through time.” The Doctor said.

“So you’re from the past?” Rhen asked.

“I thought there was only one more question. That’s three now.” The Doctor said, looking up.

“That was before you told me they were Human.” Rhen answered.

“Well.” Was all the Doctor said.

Rhen sighed and ran a hand through what small amount of hair he had. “Fine then. I’ll decide what to do with you . . . “ He said, then started pacing around the room.

The Doctor watched him pacing, his eyes following the circles he made.

“I’ll probably get rid of your friends, they’re useless to me . . . or . . . “  
“Or what?” The Doctor leaned forwards to hear his answer.  
“Or I could sell them. That might work.” Rhen grinned at his idea.

The Doctor wasn’t happy with this, but he didn’t protest. “And what about me?” The Doctor could probably already guess his fate, but asked all the same.

“That’s harder. You told me everything I needed to know – though you could have explained a bit more. Maybe I’ll add you to my collection, since you’re a rare species now.” Rhen said.

“What do you mean collection?” The Doctor asked, sitting back, squinting from confusion.

Rhen looked down at the Doctor. “As my pet.”


	5. Your Wish Is My Command

Amy and Rory were thrown into the first cell the guards came across, both managed to keep their balance, but that didn’t matter. They were forced to sit by the sudden weight - like someone pushing their shoulders down. Amy managed to get a position by the wall, but Rory ended up lying flat on his back. Through the silence that followed, Amy could hear the Doctor’s angered shouts.

“What do you mean, pet!? That’s just sick! Outrageous! Disgusting! Horrible! Thoughtless! Disgusting!” He repeated himself as soon as he started running out of words to describe how disgusted he was.

“What is he talking about?” Amy said quietly to Rory, as if he’d know what was going on.

“No clue. Something about pets I think.” Rory said, looking at the ceiling.

“You can’t keep people as pets!” The Doctor continued yelling – it was hard to tell what the conversation was about when you could only hear one side of it.

“No! You can’t!” The shouting continued.

“No. I don’t want you to remove my voice!” There was a pause. “And I don’t want to shut up either! I don’t care if you don’t care! I am not standing for this! I refuse to let myself fall to that kind of rank! Pet.” Amy and Rory heard the snort of laughter after his little speech, he really seemed to be hating whatever the plan was.

“Amy . . . What do you think they’re going to do to us?” Rory asked, speaking loud enough so Amy could hear over the Doctor’s cries of protest.

“Well. From what they said. It sounds like we’re going to burn to death.” Amy said as if it wasn’t a problem.

“Oh. Lovely.” Rory said, if he could have, his arms would have been folded by now.

“Don’t worry. The Doctor will manage to figure out something.” Amy said.

“Well at the moment it sounds like he’s trying to stop whoever it is he’s talking to from making him into a lap dog.” Rory said, sniggering – ‘Finally’ was a thought that passed through his head then.

“Rory!” Amy breathed.

“What? It really does.” Rory defended himself.

After a few seconds Amy sighed. “Why would anyone want to keep the Doctor as a pet? I mean, he annoys me by just talking sometimes.”

“I don’t know, but-“ Rory was cut off by an agonising shout.

“No! I will not listen to you, I will not let you look after me, If anyone’s a pet in this situation it will be the wall.” There was a short pause as the person he was talking to answered, then he continued. “I know a wall can’t be a pet! I’m not stupid. It was a figure of speech!”

Rory sniggered at this, but Amy just frowned at Rory. “Rory. Will you quit it!” She said loudly.

“Sorry, Amy.”

They then heard a clank of a metal door closing, and footsteps as Rhen came down the corridor. He stopped in front of their door and waited until it was opened for him. He walked into the cell, whilst Rory was moving into a sitting position – he felt an ache in his back.

“I’ve changed my mind about firing you into the sun. But the result isn’t that much more pleasant.” Rhen said to the both of them.

“Well, what is the result?” Rory questioned him.

“The Doctor decided that he would rather die than sit at my feet, so I’ve decided to let you off and sell you to a slave trader.” Rhen replied.

Amy gasped, and Rory just frowned. “And the Doctor?” Rory asked.

“He gets his wish of course.”


	6. Losing

The Doctor continued glaring at the door after it had hissed shut, for the first time in a while, he actually felt hatred towards someone.

“Pet. Hmph.” The Doctor made a noise, it sounded a bit like annoyed laughter, almost disbelieve. He could hear Amy and Rory’s voice in the distance, but they were too quiet for him to be able to tell what they were saying. Once more the Doctor couldn’t move, held down by the barrier of gravity. At some point in the angry conversation he had had with Rhen he’d managed to sneak his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket, but it was pointing in the wrong direction to be of any use.

“How’d’s death sound then Doctor?” The guard was tall enough to lean across the gratings at the top of the cell. His face wore a smug expression.

“Oh. It’s not a problem. I’ve died 10 times now.” He answered, looking up at the guard.

“The thing is, we’re not just going to kill you.” The guard said.

“What else are you going to do other than kill me? That makes no sense.”

“It does, but you just don’t get it yet. We know you can be killed, we know how, and we are going to put your weakness into action.” The guard threatened.

“Aw. I wouldn’t call it a weakness, more of a disadvantage.”

“That’s the same thing, Doctor.”

“Just a bit. Not totally though.” The Doctor beamed, as if he didn’t seem to care that he was about to get murdered for the eleventh time.

“You know. You’ve annoyed Rhen so much I doubt he’s going to give you a quick death. He’s had training in torture, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to play with your beautiful face a bit.” The guard threatened.

This sentence made the Doctor’s stomach curl, this was going to be a horrible experience.

The guard read it on his face. “Hehe, I knew it.”

“Knew what?” The Doctor asked, frowning.

“You are scared.”

“I’m not scared.” The Doctor said quickly. “Just . . . A bit-“

“Petrified?” The guard finished his sentence.

“No-“

“Terrified?”

The Doctor gave up on trying to get any words out and also gave up trying to hold his weight against the gravity. He slumped uncomfortably into the wall and glared at the ceiling, he needed something to blame for this misfortune.

“Not so great now, are you?” The guard continued, but the Doctor wasn’t listening. “I mean. Your friends are going to get sold. That’ll be after your dead so I wouldn’t worry about that too much – but you have to think that they’ll probably mourn over you. It will be all your fault.”

“Everything’s my fault.” The Doctor said.

“What?” The guard questioned, not following him.

“It’s always my fault, even if it isn’t. I’m always to blame, so don’t think it’s new. You can’t hurt me with the truth, not from what I’ve been through, and how much truth has been shoved down my throat.” The Doctor explained, closing his eyes.

“Hmm. That’s interesting.” The guard looked across the hallway, Rhen was gesturing for him to close the door. He wandered towards the controls and closed the door to Amy and Rory’s cell, then held his hand over the button to the Doctor’s.

Rhen arrived in front of the Doctor’s door again, now followed by someone holding a pair of hand cuffs. When the door swung open the Doctor moved his head so he could see Rhen. He was grinning evilly, but the Doctor’s glare wiped the smug smile off of his face.

“Have you come to take me to the torture chamber?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “No surprise there then.” He held out his arms just to make the cuffing easier.

“I’m guessing Clark has already spoiled the experience for you?” Rhen asked, grinning as the guard closed the cuffs around his wrists.

“Nothing new, heard it all before.” The Doctor said, spoiling their fun.

The Doctor was lifted off the floor by the strength of the guard, he realised now that these alien half-breeds were at least a foot taller than him. “Come on!” The man said angrily, dragging him out of the cell and down the corridor. He was taken past Amy’s cell, he realised it was possible from the outside to see through the wall of the cell – but not in reverse. He looked at her depressed face and promised himself that he’d get them out of this mess. The guard dragged the Doctor through multiple different hall ways, followed by Rhen – who was playing with a small, yet deadly edged knife. Eventually they entered a darkened room, and the Doctor finally realised he was being taken to his literal death bed.

He sighed. “Well. This is going to be interesting.”

“It certainly is, Doctor.” Rhen said, having the guard push him against a chair – one that looked as if it might be used in a dental surgery.

He was strapped in so tight he could feel the blood trying to force it’s way through his wrist’s to his hands, also from his legs to his feet. “Does it have to be so tight?” The Doctor asked, frowning. His arms were above his head too, which made it even more of a struggle to circulate his body.

“Yes. We don’t want you escaping now, do we?” Rhen asked.

“No. We don’t.” The Doctor participated in the charade, knowing he’d get out at some point – he always did.

Rhen smiled, then went behind a panel – flicking on a light which made the whole room five times brighter. It shined directly in the Doctor’s eyes, which meant he had to look away for a moment until his eyes adjusted.

Rhen then returned to the chair side, still fiddling with the knife, he looked down at the Doctor, his cold, heartless face was all that told the Doctor what he was trying to say.

“I know you don’t care what I feel. But to be honest, only psychopaths torture people.” The Doctor said sternly, looking at him. “If I could. I’d help you. But I’m tied up. And at the moment. I really don’t feel like you deserve it.”

“You said yourself just a moment ago. I don’t care how you feel. You’re dying today, and that’s how it’s going to be.”


	7. The Will To Live

The heat of the light burned down on the Doctor’s face, it must have been a very high wattage bulb, that or it was meant to be really hot – it was a torture room after all. Rhen was staring down at the Doctor, obviously deciding on what to do first and where to start. Rhen decided that, eventually they were going to have to chop off his head, so he started by getting rid of the bow tie.

This made the Doctor sigh. “At least I have spares.”

“You aren’t gonna need spares.” Rhen said, looking at the slit of ribbon in his hand, then flung it over his shoulder.

“Oh I am.” The Doctor said. “I mean, you just ruined one of them.”

“I know I did. But you’re not going to need spares because you won’t have a neck to tie them around, also you’d be dead – but that’s beside the point.” Rhen said.

“You really can be scary when you want to be, can’t you?” The Doctor said, almost sarcastically – since no fear actually showed on his face.

“Oh I haven’t even started yet.” Rhen grinned from one side of his mouth, it didn’t show up on the other – it also didn’t reach his eyes.

“Haven’t you? I thought you would have gotten around to it by now.” The Doctor complained, challenging him to go on. “I’ve never actually met someone capable of mental torture before.” He chuckled, joking – even in a situation like this one. “Though, I’ve actually never been tortured before, truth be told. What are you a half breed of anyway?” The Doctor asked, changing the subject. “A human and a what?”

Rhen looked at the Doctor, bemused – he knew that the Doctor was making an attempt at stalling, but he went along with it anyway. “I’m half Trisnai.”

“Ahh. Hence the torture and the claws and the lack of hair.” He nodded in realisation.

“Are you ready to shut up now, or am I going to have to cut out your tongue first? I was hoping to start with cutting your face but I’m prepared to change.” Rhen frowned.

“I’ll shut up for you.” The Doctor said, then closed his mouth tightly, then changed his mind. “But I don’t see the problem with talking, talking’s good, talking allows you to converse with people.” The Doctor said.

Rhen held his knife up, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow.

“Okay. Shutting up now.” The Doctor this time did keep his mouth closed, and now that it was, a guard came up to the chair side and stuck a strip of tape across it. The Doctor sighed through his nose and rolled his eyes, the mumble he made sounded a bit like ‘typical.’

Rhen shook his head in response, then moved the knife closer to the Doctor’s face. He followed it carefully with his eyes. Any normal person would be shaking in fear by now, but the Doctor’s breathing didn’t even speed up – nor did his heart beat. It was as if this was normal to him, like he’d been tortured everyday of his life – but no. The knife touched his right cheek, but it didn’t stay there – apparently Rhen changed his mind – it moved to his forehead, where the red mark of the scratch he’d gained earlier on hadn’t disappeared. Now the Doctor couldn’t see the knife, and he had nothing to look at, nothing to take his mind off of it. He felt the sharp stabbing sensation as the knife entered the layer of his skin – he made nothing but a grunting noise. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to lay off some of the pain to his sinuses. It was a good idea too, from the way he was positioned the warm, red liquid ran across his eye lids.

“See. Not so cheeky now are you?” Rhen asked. It was as if he was giving the Doctor lessons in his manners.

If he could speak behind the layer of tape that covered his mouth, he would have said something along the lines of ‘Who said that?’

Rhen drew a small pattern on his forehead, it was hard to see behind the mask of blood, but it looked a bit like his name. “Now whoever finds you will know who to not mess with.” Rhen grinned, taking the knife away.

‘That’ll take some time to heal up.’ The Doctor thought, then sighed. His eyes were still closed, so he couldn’t see what Rhen was planning this time, but he heard the footsteps. He’d moved over to the opposite side of the chair.

“I wonder how much pain you can stand . . . “ Rhen said, instead of the threat, the Doctor heard the interest in his voice.

‘No matter how much, I’m not giving in.’ The Doctor thought in response.


	8. Falling To Pieces

The Doctor sighed again, feeling the knife enter his skin for the second time. This time Rhen twisted it in the newly created wound, but the Doctor didn’t notice, he’d felt enough pain to know how to ignore it well. But there was still the fact that it made his eyes water – he couldn’t tell if that was his fault for closing his eyes so tightly or if it was simply the pain registering.

“Ah. You see. Result.” Rhen said, using the knife to wipe away a tear that had escaped the confines of his eyelid.

The Doctor was a sight to see now, the blood had already started to dry, but new blood had spread over that, his face was red not only with blood but the pressure he’d been putting on trying to keep his eyes closed.

“I wonder if I should force those things open. Just for spite, you know?” Rhen asked, pressing the corner of the blade gently against the top of his eyelid.

‘You can try.’ The Doctor thought to himself, this showed on his face, but the blood hid it from view.

Rhen sighed. “For some reason. I feel bad for doing this. Since you’re the last of your kind and all. But I can’t stop myself. It’s like smoking, I get relief from it, but I can never forgive myself for it.” Rhen said, rotating the blade in his hand while he waited for a new idea to pop into his head.

He paced at the top of the chair, having room there was a good idea to have when he was having this place built. The guard that was still stood in the room decided he no longer wanted to watch and disappeared. “What a chicken.” Rhen said, he then turned back to the Doctor. “He must have known what was coming.” He whispered in his ear.

His breath tickled, but it didn’t make any change in the Doctor’s stature – or what was left of it anyway. The Doctor felt the knife work it’s way under the tape, and after lifting a small amount of it off, Rhen tore it the rest of the way. The Doctor didn’t say anything, but he took a deep breath – realising he had been holding it for at least a minute now.

“I’m going to regret doing that.” Rhen said, sticking it to the wall so that it was half hanging – in case he needed to shut the Doctor up urgently.

“Probably.” The Doctor said quietly, he realised how dry his throat had become.

Rhen noticed the decrease in the Doctor’s tone of voice and smiled, his skills seemed to be coming out. “Okay. Next stage then.”

The knife came down again, this time the Doctor felt it press against the side of his lip and for some reason, this triggered the thought that he had no idea how he was going to get out of this. He’d never given the time to come up with a plan. The knife pulled against the corner of his mouth, where his bottom and top lip touched, and he started tasting blood in his mouth. He started feeling a bit disorientated, as if it wasn’t really happening – his closed eyes were like a blind fold, he would struggle to open them even if he wanted to. He had to think, and quick, because he knew if he didn’t come up with a plan soon, he wouldn’t be getting out of here. And if Amy and Rory did, they wouldn’t be getting home. The Doctor pulled on the tight, metallic ropes around his wrists but it achieved nothing – it only made the chair rattle and vibrate.

“Finally starting to realise nothing’s going to work are you?” Rhen said, the movement of the knife freezing – he had steady hands. “Like I said. You’re dying today. You should have figured that out earlier.”

His mouth closed around the knife as he spoke, the movement of his lips hurt now that there was a cut in them. “I’m  _not_  dying. I  _won’t_  die. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” The Doctor protested.

Rhen started to feel sorry for him. “It’s a shame. Really. You have the strongest will I’ve ever seen. But also the biggest stupidity.”

“That’s not very nice.” The Doctor again said quietly, and also attempted a grin, but nothing came.

“Well. Think about it. You’re not getting out of that chair. And your friends aint getting out of that cell. So who’s going to save you?” Rhen asked, attempting to diminish the Doctor’s hopes.

The Doctor sighed, he was beginning to break down, to realise he really was hoping for something that would never come.

“And you know it . . . “ Rhen said quietly.

* * *

Amy and Rory were still sat in the gravity defying cell, a while back, one of the guards had entered the cell with a large speaker and a TV screen.

“What’s that for?” Amy asked.

“Commander Rhen asked for this to be positioned so you could both watch it, he said your friend needs a bit of support.” The guard answered sympathetically, for once, Amy thought she might have found a kind guard.

“Support?” Rory asked, squinting out of confusion.

“You’ll see what I mean.” He said, flicking the TV on. It was dark at first, but then it flickered to life.

“Are you sure Rhen wants us to give the Doctor support, or does he just want to spite us?” Amy asked in horror as her eyes ended up practically glued to the screen.

“That’s all he said, miss.” The guard looked down, he seemed to be sorry for her. He then left the cell and closed the door behind him.

Rory sat next to Amy, his arm was around her shoulders when the gravity set it – it wouldn’t be moving for a while, not that he was going to anyway. Amy was practically crying her eyes out at what she was seeing – and hearing.

“Why?” Amy asked, she’d closed her eyes and shied into Rory, she’d seen too much.

Rory was a little stronger with his answer, it wasn’t like it made much difference to him what was happening to the Doctor, he’d only ever saved him once, but as for Amy, well, that was a different story. “I don’t know Amy. But he’ll be fine, you know he will.”


	9. Stone Cold

The Doctor felt that he was loosing, he felt like giving up, he knew he’d no chance. No plan he could come up with would save him. He couldn’t reach his Screw Driver – his arms were above his head. He couldn’t pull himself out of the ropes – they were too tight. He couldn’t rely on Amy and Rory – things just didn’t work that way. The only thing left he had was the hope that Rhen might show his Human side and let slip a bit of mercy. The Doctor’s strained eyes had relaxed now, and he also now felt the amount of water they had produced while he was struggling with reality.

Rhen ducked down to the Doctor’s level, so his mouth was now next to his ear – he didn’t want to speak loudly in case the microphones caught it. “Your friends are watching.” He whispered.

The Doctor pulled against his ropes at this. “You’re insane.” He coughed, the lack of moisture in his throat making talking almost impossible now.

“I know I am. That’s what makes it so amazing.” Rhen said, standing now.

He was thinking where to go next, since the Doctor practically had no face left – it was completely encased in blood. “Hmm. I don’t know. Oh . . . wait. What’s your favourite number Doctor – 20 or below.”

“Why does it-“ He coughed. “Matter?” He asked, fidgeting. His eyes were still closed.

“Just tell me.” Rhen said quietly, to match the Doctor’s tone.

“Seven.” He answered slowly, having a feeling that he knew what Rhen was about to do.

Rhen walked behind the chair and picked up the Doctor’s tight left hand, he started counting along the fingers, saying each number out loud slowly. It reminded the Doctor of a horror movie he watched once, something along the line of a nightmare murderer.

“One.” Rhen said, letting the Doctor’s pinkie fall back onto the chair. “Two.” He said, letting go of his ring finger. “Three.” He then let go of his middle finger.

This was it, he’d have to come up with a plan now – because there was no later.

“Four.”

Nothing came to his mind, it was a complete blank, either that was simply because he was in too much pain to concentrate, or there really was nothing to do.

“Five.” He dropped his left hand and moved over to pick up the right.

Nothing. Blank. Hopelessness. Emptiness.

“Six.”

The Doctor gave a quiet sigh as he waited for the pain to come, he knew it would. But Rhen was taking his time, he really was trying to create a scene. Still, no number came, nothing. Maybe Rhen was trying to scare him, trying to force him into some kind of submission – or was just waiting for the chance to make him scream. Still, the only sound that the Doctor heard was a harsh breathing, and the clank of something metal hitting the floor. Something strange was going on, and the Doctor knew this. Reluctantly, the Doctor opened his eyes – they were slightly gritty from the blood that had dried and stuck his eyelashes together. The Doctor could see nothing, the room was black again, save for the absence of a certain person. He lifted his head off of the chair, feeling pain run across his forehead, down his left cheek towards his mouth, but he tried his best not to notice. The room was empty . . .

“Hello?” The Doctor called out, but it was hardly loud enough for even himself to hear. He coughed a couple of times, clearing his throat the best he could. “Hello?” He called again, it was louder this time, but still quite quiet.

No one answered.

The Doctor was still stuck in the horrible chair, there was no one to untie him and there was something breathing behind him, which to be perfectly truthful, scared the life out of him. The same guard that had left the room before came back in, he was walking side-ways, he looked scared.

“What? What is it?” The Doctor asked the guard, trying to see what he was looking at. He tilted his head back, so that the top of his head was on the metal chair, and his neck was strained as far as it would go. The grey, stone statue that was stood there suddenly explained everything – or mostly everything – “Oh . . .”


	10. The Angel Who Helped Him

The Doctor wasn’t sure whether or not he should be worried, since he’d been staring at a black wall for about 50 seconds before spotting the angel. Why had it taken Rhen, and not him? It didn’t make any sense, every time he’d met one of these creatures before they always tried to kill him. Always. There were no exceptions. Whatever the case, he kept staring at it, as much as he could before some of the blood ran into his eye. He tried to blink it away, but the blood was having none of it. The guard had run off before the Doctor could tell him what he shouldn’t do, and now the Doctor was alone again in the dark room with a stone angel. The Doctor’s eyes stung from the blood, and he couldn’t keep them open. He shut them. Then he felt something cold touch his wrist, and the Doctor was prepared for the worst – but instead he felt some kind of relief. His hand began to tingle as the blood rushed up to his hand, then his other hand began to tingle and he realised that someone, something, or the angel was untying him. Why would it untie him? It made no sense, none at all. He let his hands drop to his sides, then lifted them to wipe the blood from his eyes, he could only achieve two of which, because they were covered in blood after. He managed to open his eyes again and looked at the angel, it was stood at the bottom of the chair, it’s hand seemingly busy with strap around the Doctor’s left ankle.

“Why are you helping me?” He whispered, though he knew that the angel wouldn’t be able to hear.

The Doctor untied his ankle straps himself and kicked his legs off the edge of the chair, he made sure to keep his eye on the angel while he left the room. He pulled the door shut as quickly as he could, before the angel might decide it wanted his life force. Now that the Doctor was out of any danger, he folded his arms in confusion.

“Now. Why on Earth . . . or . . . wherever in the non-existent universe I am . . . would a Weeping Angel help me?” He asked himself, pacing around the room. Sometimes when he passed a door near the back of the room he could hear a faint crying sound. But he ignored it, since he was too deep in thought to notice it anyway.

“Unless it felt sorry for me?” The Doctor asked himself. “No. Angels don’t have those kinds of emotions. Then why?” The Doctor looked up and inspected the room, wondering vaguely where the guard had run off to. “You also never only get one angel. There’ll be others here somewhere.” He said, picking up a thick piece of material that was left on the ground.

He used it to wipe most of the remains of his nasty experience from his face, but he couldn’t help the stains it had made on his clothes. It would take a while to wash out.

“This means I have to go and find Amy and Rory.” He suddenly froze on the spot when he realised something. “They were watching . . . wait . . . that means . . . “ He didn’t finish his sentence, he was already sprinting down the hall way, trying to remember from which direction he had come from. He careered into a wall, since the floor was a bit damp, but using the wall he managed to stay up and used it to throw himself in a different direction. He eventually came into the same cell block he was in before, and ran over to one of the consoles. He looked at it, running a hand through his hair – his brain was working overtime and he was struggling to keep up with it physically.

“Which button, which button, which button, which button?” He said quickly to himself, his finger (the one he probably would have lost had that angel not helped him) scanning across the panel. “Gah! Work!” He yelled, slapping his forehead – this gave him an unimaginably painful sting and he suddenly regretted doing it. He brought his hand down, making an educated guess and heard the satisfying click as the door opened. The Doctor supposed that the Gravity De-stabilisers automatically turned off when the door swung open, since it was more of a vacuum than anything else. He ran back to the front of the cell, waiting for the door to open and what he was greeted by was probably what he should have expected. Amy and Rory were holding each other, Amy shying away from the screen which they apparently had been forced to watch. The angel however, didn’t seem to have noticed the camera, and hadn’t projected itself into the room – but there was plenty of time for that. The Doctor jumped into the cell and kicked the screen of the television – it shattered to pieces around his foot.

“Doctor!?” Rory yelled surprised, the emotions on his face showed a mixture of confusion, sorrow, shock and many other things too.

Amy lifted her head from Rory’s protective shell of a shoulder and looked up, she was also apparently confused – she had been expecting the worst. The worst was always a good thing to expect, because when it actually happens you aren’t as shocked.

“Hi.” The Doctor said quietly, still his throat hadn’t moistened. He gave a little wave of his hand, and it almost got broke by the force of Amy’s weight colliding with him.

He was knocked back against the wall, whilst Amy’s arms wrapped around his waist.

“I’m happy to see you too.” The Doctor said, winded by Amy’s sudden appearance.

Amy’s tears still hadn’t stopped, she was probably crying out of happiness now more than anything else. “I thought they were going to kill you.” She sobbed into the Doctor’s shoulder.

“Hey. You know me.”


	11. Explain Yourself

Rory looked at the both of them, shaking his head – he picked himself up off the floor and dusted himself off. “So, how did you get out?”

The Doctor looked at Rory, dropping his arms to his side since he’d probably comforted Amy enough now – even though he probably should have been the one needing comforting. “I . . . umm . . .” He was about to say the word ‘improvised’ but it didn’t seem to want to come out. He realised that Rhen hadn’t actually gotten around to giving him back his ability to lie.

“Well?” Rory continued to pry the answer out of him.

“Shouldn’t you have seen?” The Doctor asked, looking at the shattered glass on the floor.

“I wasn’t watching.” Rory admitted.

Amy stepped back, looking at the Doctor – she examined his face and the scarring that Rhen had caused him.

“Well . . .” The Doctor wasn’t sure how to explain this, since he didn’t totally know himself.

Rory folded his arms in annoyance at the Doctor’s lack of explanation.

“Okay. Fine. But if you don’t understand, do not ask me for anymore information because I don’t know myself, alright?” The Doctor demanded.

“Yeah. Fine. Just tell me.” Rory said.

“Right. Well. So you saw how I was locked up in that chair right? I didn’t escape or come up with an amazing plan (unlike usual) and that’s not my fault by the way. But, you remember the Weeping Angels, right Amy?”

Amy nodded in response.

“You won’t believe me but there was an Angel in the room all the time I was there, it killed Rhen, and untied me.” The Doctor said, after explaining all of this he dropped his hands to his sides – he’d been using them to act out what happened.

“But . . . “ Amy began.

“Yeah. I know. Why would an Angel help me? Me of all people. I don’t know. Don’t ask me. I still haven’t figured it out yet.” The Doctor said. He began looking around. “By the way, where did Clark disappear to?”

“Clark?” Amy asked, shaking her head in confusion.

“The guard. The one that was making fun of me before.” The Doctor rushed through his words, he had so many questions he needed to answer and they were all getting messed up in his head.

“Oh. That one? We saw him run out of here earlier, he looked guilty – well, from what little of his face we could see.” Rory explained.

“Guilty? Why would he be guilty?” The Doctor asked, he suddenly wanted to hit his head again, but he clenched his hand into a fist so not to cause him more pain. “I’m going to have to start answering some of these questions before I go asking anymore.” He said, then darted out of the room.

Rory and Amy followed slowly. “How can you have so much energy after what you’ve just experienced?” Amy asked.

“Adrenaline, probably, we’ll find out later. I suppose. I mean. I’ll just shut off if I am running on it. But, it might just be in my nature. Actually. It probably is in my nature, I’m just a bit pumped. Well. That means I’m running on adrenaline and energy I haven’t used. I don’t know. I’m thinking. I’m tripping over myself. Shut up. Let me think.” The Doctor said quickly.

“But I didn’t say-“Amy began.

“Shut up.”

Amy looked down, mainly because she didn’t want to annoy the Doctor anymore than he already was.

“Now. There’s more than one angel. Clark was guilty. He ran off. But to where? Probably the place where the angels were. He must have been planning on using the angels for something. And when he saw that the angel defied him he went to make sure none of the others did the same thing. So if we can find Clark, we can find the angels. And if we find the angels, we can stop them from making any more trouble. It would have to be a secret place. With probably a lock on it. A large vault like area – Hah! That’s it. The vault. Come along, Ponds.” He thought out loud, his speaking was slurred and quick, which meant Amy and Rory had no idea he was about to burst into a sprint before he did.

They couldn’t catch up with the Doctor’s long strides, so they were forced just to keep up. “Where are you going?!” Amy yelled, losing her breath before she’d even begun to speak.

“The Vault! I told you!” He shouted back, since he was facing a different direction to them he’d be harder to hear.

“Where’s that?” Amy asked.

“I don’t know!” The Doctor answered loudly and cheerfully.

“Then why are you running?” Amy asked, grinding to a halt, causing Rory to smash into the back of her.

“Oh. Uh. I don’t know that either.” The Doctor said, stopping and spinning on his heel so that he was facing Amy.

“You could try the map?” Rory asked.

“What map?”

“That map.” Rory pointed at the wall.

Instead of a boring, grey coloured wall there were images indented in the wall. The Doctor walked up to it, looking at it closely. He ran his finger across it, feeling the parts of the wall that were slightly raised up.

“This ship is massive!” The Doctor yelled excitedly. “Wow! You could fit Pluto into this!” He paused, thought for a second, then stood back and examined the map from further away. “How can you fit a planet in a space-ship, and still have it fly? The only way that is possible is with the most expensive equipment in the multi-verse, and that’s very limited.” The Doctor said to himself.

“What do you mean?” Rory asked.

“I mean. This ship shouldn’t be able to fly.”


	12. Better To Be Broken

“Right. I think we need to start making lists.” The Doctor sighed, frustrated. He was beginning to get a head ache with the amount of things he had to work out, find out, and fix.

“Why?” Amy asked, confused. “There’s plenty of us to remember everything.”

“Except there isn’t, because it’s me who does all of the thinking.” The Doctor clasped his hands together as an idea popped in to his head. “Actually. That’s perfect. There’s three of us. And that means we can get a lot of stuff done in a shorter amount of time. I need you two to head to the vault. I know Clark will be there so just try and convince him not to set his pets on you. I. However. Will be elsewhere – figuring out how this ship is flying.” He grinned, held up one hand as a way of saying good bye. He patted Rory on the shoulder and ran off down the corridor to their left.

Amy and Rory looked at each other, generally in disbelieve at how the Doctor was acting. Amy had seen his face and the cuts on it, the stuff he must have gone through didn’t seem to have affected him at all.

The Doctor came to a stop a few corridors away from what he supposed to be the engineering room. He needed a couple of moments to think things through, not that he hadn’t been doing it already.

“So. Yet another spaceship that flies, that can’t fly.” He looked at the wall and hit it a couple of times, it made a clanging noise as a result. He then pulled his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and scanned it – when he checked the results he couldn’t believe his eyes. “How’s that possible?” He asked himself, looking at the wall again. “How can there be this much Ridentonium in one place . . . yet not implode in on itself?” The Doctor tapped his screwdriver against his chin while he thought. “Maybe some kind of . . . Quantum Lock maybe? Or . . . Time Jump Reversers?” He said out loud, wandering off towards the engineering. It was then that the lights dimmed, some sparks broke free and showered down on the Doctor. He looked up at the futuristic looking light, that was now an empty glass shell. “Sabotage? Or just coincidence?” He asked the light, as if it could answer.

He returned his eyes to the corridor and found it to be almost pitch black. He decided to use his screwdriver as a torch, but it only gave off a dim, green coloured glow. “Meh.” The Doctor made a sound of irritation and walked off down the hallway towards the engineering room. The lights above the doors were glowing red, there must have been a back-up generator that kicked in to light these things up. Which meant there also must have been something important in here. In front of the entrance that the Doctor had used were five, tall pillars. They were neatly set in a row with wires jutting out of them here and there. The Doctor felt they were probably the generators for different parts of the ship – as all but one were glowing. He guessed that the one that seemed to be broken was probably the power, lights and heating. If the generator was in this room, it must have meant that whoever turned them off – or broke it – was still here. From what the Doctor could see, all of the other doors had sealed themselves shut.

“Hello?” The Doctor called out, but it was unlikely he’d get an answer, especially if it was sabotage.

Hearing no reply, the Doctor carried on further into the large, circular shaped room. After a couple of steps he tripped over a loose wire, he stumbled a few feet but managed to keep his balance. The hair that had come loose with this trip fell across his face, landing in the wounds that still hadn’t scarred yet. When the Doctor looked back up, he found there was a figure hiding in the gloom, behind a panel. His head was down, ducked like you would if you were trying to hide tears. His hands were pressed against both sides of the panel, he seemed to be using them to hold himself up.

“Hello.” The Doctor said after standing up properly.

There yet again was no answer. So the Doctor pulled his jacket so the creases came out of it, then wandered over to the man. He studied his blank figure for a few second, since there was no reaction in the man to his presence he started to feel a bit stupid. “Hey. Don’t suppose you could show me to the ship’s maintenance shaft?” He asked, trying to get the man to react.

The man finally lifted his head, he looked as if he’d been crying. “Why would I show you? You’re supposed to be dead.”

The Doctor almost jumped, he wasn’t expecting the man to lift his head so suddenly. This man was more Trisnai than human, his eyes were black and his face bore strange red markings. His ears were long, and they didn’t stick out – they looked a little bit like that of a dog. He had no hair on his head at all.

It took a moment for the Doctor to realise that he was meant to answer this question. “Oh. Right. Because I’m making sure this ship doesn’t destroy itself. And actually. Forget the shaft, just show me to the panel that turns the lights back on.”

The man stood back and held his hands towards the panel in front of him, telling the Doctor that this was what he was looking for. The Doctor shoved him out of the way and looked down at the controls.

“What happened to you by the way?” The Doctor asked, squinting at the controls in front of him – it was too dark to see.

“What do you mean?” The man asked, leaning back against the wall out of the way.

“Well. I can see the cuts in your clothes for one.” The Doctor revealed, he still hadn’t turned from the console and was now shining the Sonic Screwdriver’s light on the machine.

“Oh . . . “ The man looked down at the floor, like he had been before. “It was Clark . . .” He said, frowning.

“Clark, huh? I thought he was nicer than that. Guess he wasn’t being so sarcastic after all.” The Doctor said, flicking a switch on the panel.

The lights around the room powered up slowly, eventually flickering on to brighten the room.

“Aha! Now I can find the Quantum Cross/Lock/Thingy machinery stuff I was looking for.” The Doctor said, clapping his hands together.

The man looked at the Doctor confused. “Why would you want to find our Quantum systems?” He asked, making sure to have the last two words stand out – since the Doctors lack of vocabulary might start annoying him later.

“Well. This ship is big enough to contain a planet. Yet it’s travelling through space. So I’m wondering how.” The Doctor explained whilst walking around, looking for the console that contained it.

“Oh . . .”

“What’s your name?” The Doctor asked as he jumped a railing into the opposite side of the room.

“Thorlax.” He answered slowly, not sure if he should trust the Doctor or not.

“Okay Thorlax, would you mind explaining to me what Clark is planning?” The Doctor asked.

“Yes. Yes I would.” Thorlax answered, frowning.

The Doctor sighed. “That’s a shame. I was hoping to get rid of some questions but you don’t seem to be much of a help for that. Hah! Here it is!” He said, cutting off mid speech when the mass of pipes and wires came into view.

“Sorry to be such a bother.” He said jokingly and followed the Doctor to the setup.

“Wow. What a mess.” The Doctor said, looking at the pipes and mass of broken wires. “I thought it would be better maintained than this. Since the lives of everyone on this ship depend on them.” He pulled a couple of wires together, and used the screwdriver to melt them together.

“What are you doing?” Thorlax asked.

“Fixing it – duh.” The Doctor said, rolling his eyes as if it was obvious.

“Why are you fixing it? That’s a stupid idea.” Thorlax said, coming ever closer to the wires.

The Doctor smacked his face, which really hurt. “Because it’s broken.”

“Yeah. I know it’s broken. It’s meant to be.” Thorlax said.

“Don’t be an idiot.” The Doctor warned, then pulled a couple of levers. He heard the satisfying hum of life in the mechanics, then the not so satisfying crash.

A vibration ran throughout the whole ship, knocking them both to their feet.

“I told you . . . “ Thorlax said.


	13. Clark's Gift

Amy and Rory followed the Doctor’s instructions, they’d easily found the vault on the map, even though it was written in a completely different language. After walking in silence for about five minutes they eventually came to a massive, black door. Around it were a mass of thick padlocks, which told Amy no-body had entered this room.

“Are we sure Clark is in here?” Amy asked, stopping in her tracks.

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Rory asked, looking at the tall door.

“Well. Because the locks are still . . . locked.” Amy answered, examining one of the locks lower down.

“And?”

“Rory . . . “ Amy sighed. “If they’re locked on the outside, that means that no-body’s on the inside.”

“Maybe not – someone could have locked him in.” Rory countered.  
“Oh. Sure. Who would want to lock him in?” Amy asked, looking back at Rory with a frown.

“I don’t know. Someone who doesn’t like him?”

Amy sighed and went to look at a panel beside the door. She guessed that this would open the door somehow. Rory also came over to her side, wondering if he could help in some way.

“Wouldn’t all the buttons open separate locks?” Rory asked, about to push a button.

Amy slapped away his hand. “Don’t be so hasty! You might blow the whole place up if you’re not careful.”

Rory sighed and turned his back, knowing that Amy would prefer to do this alone. He started exploring the immediate area, making sure that no-one was around.

“It’s a bit lonely here, I thought, since the ship is so big, that there would be a lot more people.” Rory said.

“They’re probably all dead.” Amy said, still looking at the console.

“Oh. That’s a nice thought.” Rory frowned, Amy could be so basic sometimes.

“It is a nice thought . . .” A voice sounded from the opposite corridor that Rory had been walking down previously. “Maybe I should take that into consideration.” He continued, walking out in front of the doors.

Amy turned around suddenly, both hands slapping on the side of the panel as she struggled to keep her balance. The shock slowly diminished into realisation, and then hatred.

“You think you’re so great, don’t you?” Amy complained, pointing a finger at the alien – it was Clark.

“Yeah.” He said, then whispered: “I do.”

Rory came bounding down the hallway and into the open, slowing to a halt beside Amy. His eyes traced the room and eventually landed on the guard.

“What do you want?” Amy asked, as if the guard would just spill all of his plans in front of her.

“Oh. I just want to live. That’s all.” Clark answered.

Amy squinted at this answer. “What do you mean, live? You already are alive.”

“I know I’m alive. What I’m saying is that everyone’s going to die – and I’m not going to participate.” Clark said, smiling.

“Go on then, enlighten me.” Amy said, leaning back against the console – folding her arms.

Clark was slow to answer at first, but didn’t seem to find it a problem if he spoke now – she wasn’t going to stay alive for long enough to be able to tell anyone else. “I’m guessing you saw the angels?” He asked, walking towards Amy – he pushed her out of the way of the console. “Well. I’ve got a load of them behind these doors – that’s why they’re so thick.” He said, looking up at the black metal. “And with them. I’m going to wipe out the entire population of this ship – save one. Not only that, but I’m getting rid of you and your friend too.” He said to Amy and Rory.

“Why would you want to do that?” Rory asked, confused.

Clark rubbed his fingers together in front of him. “The money.”

Amy shook her head, thinking to herself ‘I guess there are plenty more greedy races out there.’

“And how are you going to achieve that? I mean, the angels will kill you too.” Rory explained slowly.

“Oh. That’s the good part.” He grinned evilly, turning back to the console. “The angels won’t hurt me. Why? Because I created them.” Clark explained.

“They can’t be created, they’re alien.” Amy protested.

“Ah. Their minds are the only alien part you see. I made the statue, then, after fiddling around with the computer a bit – transferred their minds into the statues and hey-presto, they obey me.”

Amy almost gasped, but she instead tightened her folded arms. “That’s outrageous. Even if they are murdering aliens they still have the right to their own minds.”

“They’re not the only murdering aliens out there, Amy, and I’m prepared to remove their minds for my own purposes.” Clark added, then, his hand came down on a button before Amy or Rory could stop him.

“No!” Amy yelled, but it was too late. The doors swung open, revealing the horrible sight that Amy and Rory had been expecting for a while now.

There were at least 30 of them, each had their own uniqueness to them. Amy refused to take her eyes off of them for a second, but Rory was less inclined to do so. He turned to Clark.

“You’re mad. It’s going to go wrong and you know it.” Rory threatened.

“Except it won’t, because I’m mad enough to be smart.” Clark laughed, folding his arms.

It was then that the ship lurched to the side, knocking all three of them to their knees. A few of the statues fell, but most of them stayed up – the ones that did falter smashed to pieces on the metal ground. That made Clark really angry, but he was too busy trying to get to his feet to bother hitting anybody. The ship rattled and shook, a wailing siren sounded from a speaker not three feet away from them. There was a terrifying clunking, crashing sound, and Amy could see the crack appearing in a nearby wall.


	14. Fixed And Broken

“Hold on! Just shut up!” The Doctor said, pulling himself back up to his feet. He was protesting against Thorax’s cries of anger.

He jumped into action, breaking and replacing pipes, connecting wires that shouldn’t have needed to be connected. All of this was happening through the crashing and crumbling of the ship around them.

“I told you not to touch it! I told you it was better off broken! What did I say!?” Thorax yelled over the sirens, the anger showed in his dark eyes.

The Doctor span round on his heels and grabbed the man’s overalls – he pulled him closer so that Thorax would be able to hear what he was saying.

“I know what you told me. That doesn’t change anything. So will you please be quiet while I save all of us?” The Doctor asked sternly, tilting his head while he waited for an answer.

Thorax looked at the Doctor, he read the concern in the Doctor’s eyes. He nodded briefly, and when the Doctor let him go he returned to his work. The engineering bay was a blood red colour, the sirens not only blasting out a wailing noise but also causing the emergency lights to come on all around the room. It was annoying for the Doctor as he tried to sort out the tangled mess of wires in front of him. His eyes showed a certain amount of worry, not for himself, but more for what was happening and what the result might be. Thorax was looking over his shoulder while he worked, interested in what he was doing. Another shudder ran throughout the ship, causing shards of metal to fall from the roof. The Doctor narrowly dodged one when he jumped over a pipe to the other side of the system. There was a loud grating noise that could be heard over the sirens, like nails down a black board.

“You have to hurry.” Thorax said worriedly, looking up at the ceiling – it seemed to be collapsing.

“I’m almost done.” The Doctor said quickly, he put a tore a few pipes from the system and reconnected them onto another pipe. Once he almost dropped his screw driver through a grating out of the speed he was working.

All at once the sirens and the screeching and the groaning of the ship cut out, and in it’s place was just the silent hum of machinery.

“Phew.” The Doctor said, running a hand through his hair. “I’ve managed to stabilise the systems – though to be honest, I did not expect that to happen.” The Doctor thought to himself and realised it was probably due to the fact that they were literally in the middle of nowhere. In this place, time did not exist. Mass and weight did not collide as usual – it was lucky this ship was still standing in the first place. Everything had to be perfect for this place to work, one change in the magnetic pressure and not only would the ship fall to pieces – the dimension would too. “Now. Question.” The Doctor said, turning to Thorax. “How did your ship get here?”

Thorax looked at the Doctor, confused. “I don’t understand. We’ve always been here. We’re a mining ship . . . ?” Thorax said, but he didn’t seem to be sure.

“You could say that. But the fact is. This place doesn’t exist. It’s not on the map. So your ship can’t have been here when it was wiped from the universe – and it couldn’t have magically appeared either.” The Doctor said. “So I’m asking how.”

Thorax looked at the Doctor, confused. He just shook his head in denial.

“I bet Rhen would have known . . . “ He sighed. “Clark might . . . they seemed to be quite close – not that that is actually possible.” The Doctor said, shaking his head.

The Doctor looked up, sighed once more, then clapped his hands once. “Time to find Amy.” He said, then ran off down the now bright corridor.

Thorax followed, not wanting to be left along again – because he knew what was coming.

After a little while of running, and a couple of wrong turns, the Doctor eventually reached the corridor that contained the map. He ran his finger over it again, tracing the intricate patterns – then stabbed his finger tip on the metal when he found what he was looking for. “Here.” He said, then jogged off towards the vault – where he had sent Amy and Rory. He followed the same path that Amy had used before, the silence though was a bit sinister.

The lack of noise caused the Doctor to slow to a walk, “Wonder why it’s so quiet . . . “ The Doctor said quietly to himself – he hadn’t realised yet that Thorax had decided to follow.

“It isn’t. Listen.” Thorax said – this made the Doctor half jump.

They both stopped moving, silently listening to the nothingness around them, but in the background was a quiet hum. An electrical sound, that jumped a couple of times – making it sound a bit like something frying. It sizzled and spat, but the Doctor couldn’t tell what it was.

“Hmm.” He said in thought, then went back to running down the corridor – he was interested now, but also slightly worried. He had a bad feeling that he’d done something wrong whilst fiddling with the Quantum Systems.

“It sounds like broken wires.” Thorax thought out loud, but the Doctor disagreed with a shake of his head.

“I think it’s something worse than that.” The Doctor frowned, it was something in the pit of his stomach telling him that he wasn’t going to like what he was about to see.

The Doctor came sprinting round the corner into the opening, where the massive vault doors stood wide open. He froze.

“Oh . . . I see what you mean . . . “ Thorax said, coming to a stop behind him.

The Doctor shook his head in disbelief.

In front of him was a gaping hole in the ship’s wall. There was a blue haze covering it, making sure that no oxygen escaped into space and that the ship didn’t explode from the air pressure. Amy, Rory and Clark were nowhere in sight. On the floor the Doctor noticed a familiar metal chain – Amy’s bracelet. And inside the vault stood nothing but darkness.


	15. Collateral Damage

The Doctor stared at the chain on the floor, his face expressionless save the obvious readings of disbelief. His mind was blank, wondering what could have possibly happened to Amy – and Rory, but he seemed to be on the side of the Doctor’s mind. Thorax was looking at the gaping hole in the wall, also disbelievingly, but it wasn’t over lost friendship.

“That’s 3.4 million Calda that has been sucked into space!” He yelled, complaining.

The Doctor looked at Thorax from the corner of his eye, not moving his head at all. He did feel like correcting Thorax that it hadn’t been sucked into space, but had disappeared all together. He returned his eyes to the chain and walked towards it, when he reached it he bent down and picked it up. His eyes scanned it for any signs, anything, that might tell him that Amy was still safe and breathing. Then he realised something, the obvious, that his mind had skipped completely as usual.   
“She can’t have been drawn out through the hole if her bracelet wasn’t . . . “ Then his mind cancelled out the hope he’d just gained by realising she simply could have disappeared along with the wall – that would be even worse than dying.

“You’re right . . . So where is she?” Thorax asked, even though he had no idea who the Doctor was referring to.

The Doctor tried to convince himself that he was wrong about the disappearance. “Wherever she is, she’ll be with Clark.” He looked up at the empty vault. “And probably the angels too.” He frowned at this. “Which means that she doesn’t have much time left – if she’s still alive anyway.” He said, then regretted the last part of his sentence.

“Well. If she’s with Clark – he’d be trying to get rid of her . . . So I’d say they probably went to the Shuttle Decks.” Thorax answered, as if he was a guide.

The Doctor put the chain in one of his inside pockets, the opposite one to which his Screwdriver was in, then stood up. He looked around slowly, for anything else that he might find interesting, then wandered off to find the Shuttle Decks – as Thorax had called them. Whilst he was walking, he felt that the ship was slightly tilted to the left – but for the moment he paid no attention to it.

“So where’s these Shuttle Decks?” The Doctor questioned Thorax, who then took the lead.

“It’s this way, it’s the highest point in the ship so we’ll have to take the elevators.” Thorax replied.

“The elevators? You have elevators on this ship?” The Doctor asked, surprised.

“Yeah – why’s that such a shock to you?” Thorax asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Because this level of the ship alone is the distance from the Moon to the Earth, and that takes three days strait in a rocket!” The Doctor described, bewildered at the massive size of the ship.

“Yeah. And?” Thorax asked, big ships must have been a normal thing for him.

“Where are all of the people then? You wouldn’t need a massive ship for four . . . five people.” The Doctor said, counting back the amount of people he had seen so far. That was Rhen, Thorax, Clark, and two guards.

“Oh. There’s a few more.” Thorax promised.

“Right.” The Doctor answered, once more he’d lost his get-up-and-go juice and was running on pretty-much-empty.

They eventually reached the elevator, by the side of it was a panel filled with cryptic numbers and letters that made no sense even to a man who knew over 2000 languages. It must have been in some kind of code that only the workers knew. Thorax opened it as if this nonsense was his mother-tongue. The lift’s doors opened with a hiss and a rush of air, and both Thorax and the Doctor stepped into it without a word. The Doctor obviously thinking, and Thorax wouldn’t speak unless he had to.

About 30 seconds later the doors opened again, and Thorax led the way out this time. He took the Doctor through a lot of corridors again and eventually they arrived at another pair of big, black, doors.

“This is it I guess.” The Doctor said, bored. “Though. I can’t hear anyone talking.” He frowned.

“Of course you won’t, it’s a sound proof wall – and door for that matter.” Thorax replied.

“Should have known . . . “ The Doctor said to himself and walked over to the panel to open the door.

It slid opening, a bang echoing from where it hit the thick walls. Then. Unexpectedly. Someone grabbed the Doctor from behind.


	16. Delays

The Doctor felt himself coming back to reality, coming out of the depths of unconsciousness. He made sure though to try and tell where he was before opening his eyes, since that indicated to anyone in the room that he was awake. He felt himself chained up again, though his hands were tied behind his back instead of in any strange position. He felt as if he was in a small area, since it was rather warm and claustrophobic. He couldn’t hear any voices or breathing, so he had a good guess that he was probably alone. He slowly, but surely opened his eyes – finding himself in a small, dark room, trapped in a single chair. It reminded him of that time that he’d spent a while in the Pandorica, but he’d managed to get out of that so this should be no trouble. In front of him was a panel with buttons, switches and leavers on it, and above that was a small window. Through that window the Doctor could see a blue-coloured-shiny-thing, those were the words he used to describe it in his head.

After using all of the tricks in the book to try and untie himself he found no result. Still trapped in the chair he found that the blue-coloured-shiny-thing was getting ever closer, and the Doctor could feel around him that the room was getting warmer. That could have just been because his body temperature was heating things up though. Eventually though, the Doctor came to the conclusion that he was in a shuttle heading straight for a blue dwarf star.

“Darn it.” The Doctor said, frowning.

He tried desperately to pull free of his chains but it wasn’t working, whoever tied him up really knew how to make sure no one got out without the key. It looked like the Doctor was going to have to improvise once more. Using one of his shoes, he managed to flick his other one off and across the room, then tried to pry off his second one. It was a little harder with socks on, but after a while he managed to get rid of it – it also flung across the room, hitting the wall with a clunk. Then the Doctor leaned forward, looking at the panel in front of him – it had been just out of reach of his nose so using his feet was the only option he had left. He tried to decipher the codes and managed quite well.

“Right. So, I need the thrusters.” The Doctor said to himself, resting a foot on the edge of the console.

The Doctor, using his big toe, pressed down on a button – unexpectedly the ship lurched forwards, almost throwing him out of his seat.

“Wrong way.” The Doctor said, banging his head against his knee painfully.

As a result, the shuttle’s collision course sped up, a flashing screen indicated the remaining time he had left.

00:02:29

00:02:28

00:02:27

The numbers continued to count down, almost like a threat. The Doctor quickly found the lever that controlled the directions of the thrusters. He knew at the speed he was going though, that turning around in time was out of the question – so performing a hand brake turn was required.

“Now where is it?” The Doctor said, looking around the room eagerly.

Not surprisingly, it was on the right hand side of the chair.

00:02:05

The more time it took for the Doctor to come up with a plan, the harder it would be to turn around in time. He must have been travelling at least over the speed of sound.

“This is going to hurt.” The Doctor complained, frowning.

There was only one way to do this. He jumped up skilfully onto the seat, but of course he was tied to it – so he couldn’t just go walking about freely. His right leg twisted around the arm rest of the chair, his toes only just reaching the hand break.

“Damn my tiny feet.” He continued to complain, as if it would help.

00:01:26

Then, using his other leg, he stretched it out towards the navigating lever. He wasn’t that great a gymnast, and this position really pulled on his muscles. He held his breath, as if it would allow him to push himself further but it really didn’t achieve much. His toes on his right foot wrapped around the hand break – the Doctor was hoping that to put it on you had to push it backwards.

“Come on.” The Doctor said.

00:00:57

Then, simultaneously, he pushed the lever to the left, and pushed the hand brake back. He gritted his teeth as his muscles disagreed with this and tried to convince him to pull them back. But he refused. Eventually the ship gently turned to the left, it’s back to the star now – and with great timing too. The seconds narrowed more, as the ship continued moving towards the star from momentum.

00:00:14

“Argh, come on, come on, come on, come on.” He told himself as he pulled at the hand brake, moving it back to it’s original position. Following this, he let go of the navigator and it flicked back to the middle. The thrusters began pushing him back towards the ship, and just in time too. The seconds dropped to 5, and the Doctor had only just realised how warm it was in the spaceship. The screen bleeped and flashed, and a programmed voice said: ’Collision course aborted.’

The Doctor sighed out of relief, moving his legs back in front of him. They ached from the pressure he had put on.

 

He only just realised that a new collision course had been set. With the spaceship.


	17. Collision Course

“No! Damn it!” The Doctor complained, if he could, his face would be buried in his hands.

He was hoping desperately that the ship had some kind of magnetic device that would draw the shuttle in to land safely, but the Doctor doubted – that if they even have one – it would be switched on. The Doctor really didn’t know how to get out of this one. The Trisnai were smart, smart enough to know almost every escape plan that the Doctor could make up. They tied him to a chair with chains, so he couldn’t wriggle free. They shot him at the sun with no means of controlling the ship – except they hadn’t thought to tie up his feet. Now they were bound to have closed the doors, turned off the means of automatic pilot and anything else the Doctor could come up with. Unless it was something completely obscure and very, very dangerous. The Doctor growled below his breath, purely out of irritation and frustration. The countdown began again, but instead of two minutes, this time he was given 20 odd. He must have been asleep for quite some before. He closed his eyes, suddenly deep in thought. Ideas ran through his head but were dismissed when he found out the obviousness behind them. He’d have to come up with something that no one would think of. He did feel something beginning to form in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t get rid of the fog covering it – this frustrated him even more.

“What is it . . . ?” The Doctor asked himself quietly.

Behind him came a clicking sound, then the buzz of machinery powering up that hurt his ears. A voice then began to speak, it sounded like Thorax.

“Doctor?” He asked.

The Doctor looked up, trying to see where this noise was coming from, but it must have been too far back to see.

“Thorax?” The Doctor asked back, confused.

“Oh. That’s good. At least you didn’t burn to death.” Thorax replied.

“Oh, yeah, thanks – just brilliant isn’t it?” The Doctor said, frowning. He couldn’t tell what Thorax was thinking, or what he was planning.

Thorax stayed quiet for a couple of seconds before replying. “It wasn’t me who jumped you by the way. It was Clark.” Thorax explained. “When he saw me with you he locked me up, but I managed to get out. That’s the gift you get when you’re an engineer.” He answered, smiling behind the microphone.

“Where are you going with this?” The Doctor asked. “’Cus at the moment I’m trying not to smash a hole in the side of the ship and blow up. But. I’ll sit down with a cup of Earl-Grey and listen to your stories. Sure.” He said sarcastically.

“I’m going to open the Shuttle Bay doors for you . . . But I won’t be able to power up the guidance system – Clark smashed it up.” He replied.

“So you were with Clark then?” The Doctor asked.

“Yeah. So?” Thorax replied questioningly.

“Did you see Amy and Rory?” The Doctor asked worriedly.

“No. Sorry. He didn’t mention something about you not having to worry about them anymore, but I don’t know what he meant by that.” Thorax told him.

The Doctor didn’t seem very happy with this. He sighed. “Well. Are you going to open the doors now?” He looked at the clock on the wall. “I’ve got about 5 minutes before I crash into you.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

The Doctor could see two large doors beginning to part in the middle on the ship. They were rather big, at least four times the size of the shuttle itself.

“Thanks.” The Doctor said.

Now he had to try to navigate the shuttle through the doors, then into the landing bay, and actually land the ship. He had a lot to learn in five minutes. He already knew how to steer it, but it wouldn’t matter since the ship was heading for the doors already. Thorax had gone quiet all of a sudden, but that was probably to let the Doctor concentrate.

Eventually he managed to figure out what was what. When he entered through the doors he shut off the thrusters – so that he was stuck hovering in mid air. Then carefully he tilted the thrusters upwards, so that when he turned them on the shuttle would head towards the ground. He didn’t bother with turning the shuttle around, it wasn’t like he would ever need a quick escape – he had the Tardis for that (Not that he actually knew where it was). The ship rocked slightly when the stands hit the floor, apparently someone had forgotten to close them when they shot the Doctor into space. The door then hissed open automatically, but the Doctor couldn’t see that. He was facing the wrong direction to be able to know who might be waiting there.


	18. Mind Swap

It took a few moments for whoever was standing in the door way to come in, but when they did they introduced themselves for the Doctor’s sake.

“It’s only me.” Thorax said, reaching down the back of the chair to unlock the Doctor’s chains.

When the chains eventually gave way the Doctor rubbed his wrists and stood up. “Those were really quite tight.” He complained, frowning at the red marks they had made.

“Sorry about that . . . “ Thorax said, turning to look at the pile of shoes growing in the corner of the room.

“Don’t ask.” The Doctor said, walking up to the leather boots.

“I can guess.”

“I hope so.” He answered, picking his shoes up.

Even though there was a chair behind him he insisted on trying to put them on standing up. He almost fell over twice. Thorax looked at him as if he should help, but he doubted that the Doctor needed it.

“Did Clark say where he was off to?” The Doctor asked, pulling on his last shoe whilst using the wall to balance himself.

“Yeah.” Thorax answered.

“Wait . . . Really?” The Doctor asked disbelievingly. He turned to Thorax to make sure he could read truth in his face.

“Yeah. He did. He said he was off to the Mental Clearance room.”

“What’s a Mental Clearance room?” The Doctor asked, having a feeling he already knew.

“It’s where we clear people’s minds, swap them, brain wash them, anything like that.” Thorax told him.

The Doctor shook his head. “That’s wrong.”

“How am I wrong? You ask-“

“No. I don’t mean like that. I mean that messing with people’s heads is wrong.” The Doctor cut him off before he could go any further. His expression had already darkened at this information.

“Oh. Right.” Thorax looked down, feeling a bit guilty.

“We have to stop him.”

“Stop him from what?” Thorax questioned, looking back up.

“He said I wouldn’t have to worry about Amy and Rory – and now he’s going to the Mind Clearance room? Bit slow on the update is you Thorax?” The Doctor asked harshly, his mood hadn’t improved.

“Oh. Right.” Thorax said from realisation.

“Come on then.” The Doctor said, sprinting passed Thorax and jumping from the door – he’d misjudged the height and stumbled in his landing, but managed to keep his balance. He then ground to a halt and waited for Thorax to catch up before saying: “Where is it . . . ?”

“Come on, I’ll show you.” He then ran off in front of the Doctor.

The Doctor was surprised that they hadn’t come across any angels yet, as he knew that they had all escaped – maybe they were laying and waiting. After a few moments, the Doctor found himself standing in front of an airlock like door. Thorax was already keying in the code to open it - knowing that the Doctor wouldn’t want to waste any time in saving his friends.

The door hissed open and Thorax stared at the Doctor, shocked. “That wasn’t me . . . “ He said.

The Doctor looked from Thorax to the door way, standing in it was Clark – holding the arms of two, very familiar people. Their eyes were open, but they didn’t appear to have any life in them – they were glassy. Their skin was pale; almost white.

“What have you done to them?” The Doctor asked Clark angrily.

“Nothing.” Clark said innocently, though you would be able to tell that he was lying because of the thick sarcasm.

“Tell me.” The Doctor said sternly, his eyes were cold.

“Well. I’m only half way through the process. I don’t want to spoil it for you.” Said Clark, grinning hugely.

“I said tell me!” The Doctor grabbed his overalls – the ones that everyone on this ship seemed to wear.

“I wiped their minds. I was about to replace them, until you got in my way.”

“Replace them with what?” The Doctor asked, his grip on Clark’s clothes tightening as he leaned in to hear the answer.

“My angels . . .”

“Well that’s stupid, why would you want to do that? It’ll brake you know? If the angels mind is implanted into another body it’ll be too stupid to be able to figure out how to use it – freezing every time someone looks at them and wondering why their defence isn’t working. Touching people at the most random of moments . . . “ The Doctor complained, coming up with every way that Clark’s idea wouldn’t work. His rant went on and on for almost five minutes. “Plus it would be pointless too, the angels don’t know how to kill they only know how to get rid-“

“Doctor . . .” Thorax cut him off mid sentence.

“What? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something here?” He asked, looking at Thorax like he was a child.

“Yeah. He’s not listening.” Thorax said, pointing to Clark.

Clark was looking at the ceiling, picking out marks in the wall which had happened as a result of the malfunction earlier. He was doing this just to make the Doctor feel small, also because he really, didn’t care what the Doctor was saying.

The Doctor looked at Clark, even though he was oblivious to everything he was saying, he still continued to speak. “Anyway. There must be some way of getting them back, you can’t destroy memories, they will always be around. You can’t get nothing from something.” The Doctor said, turning around the usual figure of speech. “You will always have some kind of left over. Deleted data is stuck in cyber-space, water evaporates but doesn’t disappear, fire will burn but will not diminish until the coal has turned to ash. So where is it? Maybe in a liquid form? Or as saved files on a computer?” The Doctor asked, and finally shut up for five seconds so that Clark could answer.

“They’re files. But it’s quite hard to navigate cyber-space in a universe that doesn’t exist.” Clark said, trying to ruin the Doctor’s plans.

“No it isn’t. I can just make the computer co-ordinate with time, bring them back to the desk top and upload them into their brains. Simple.” He said, pointing at both of the half empty bodies in Clark’s arms.

“Not so simple when the computer is switched off.” Clark said, holding up a long cable.

The Doctor almost growled, something about Clark really tickled his nerves. “I’ll just find a new plug socket and imbed that into the computer.”

Clark sighed, shaking his head. “Always skipping the obvious, aint you?” He frowned.

“What do you mean obvious?” The Doctor asked, taken aback.

“The fact that you can’t put it back into their heads if you don’t have them.”

“Oh but I will have them, it’s quite easy when you know how really.” The Doctor said, smiling.

“And just how are you going to do that?” Clark asked, looking down at the Doctor from his massive height.

“I’m not going to do anything.”

“Then how the hell are you going to get them off me?!” Clark’s whole sentence sounded like irritation.

“Like this-“

It was then that Clark received a whack in the back of the head with a metal object, a shard that must have fallen off of the roof had now been turned into a weapon. Clark tumbled to the floor unconscious, along with Amy and Rory since their brains were too empty to keep them standing.

“Twit . . . “ A familiar voice stated. The tall structure of a man stood where Clark once was.

It was Rhen.


	19. Clearing Up

“Well you’ve changed quite considerably.” The Doctor said to Rhen after catching Amy and Rory before they hit the floor. Both of them on separate arms made it really difficult for the Doctor to keep them up.

“Yeah. Well. When this idiot decided to try and kill me I decided I didn’t feel like helping him anymore.” Rhen said, his hands in his pockets.

“So you know what his plan was, then?” The Doctor questioned, dropping Rory’s slump body onto Thorax without asking.

“I know, yes.”

“Well?” The Doctor probed, now carrying Amy on one shoulder.

“He wanted the ship, so that he could sell it . . .”

“Sell it to whom though? I mean, you’re the only people in this tiny expanse of an area.” The Doctor said, confused.

“That’s the whole point. I eventually came to the conclusion that we hadn’t seen any life-forms in decades, so there was obviously none around.” Rhen answered.

“Exactly.” The Doctor said, rubbing his now scarred up lip with his ring finger.

“Sorry about your face by the way, though to me it does seem quite an improvement.” Rhen said, grinning.

“An improvement? How on Jupiter is it an improvement?” The Doctor asked, hurt.

“Well. Your childish face looks much manlier now.” Rhen told him truthfully.

“Um . . . thanks?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as if he couldn’t tell if this was a joke or a compliment.

“No problem.” He tapped the Doctor’s shoulder and strode off down the corridor.

The Doctor and Thorax followed, struggling under the weight of the people they were carrying. They didn’t know where Rhen was going but the Doctor made an educated guess that he was showing them where they could retrieve Amy and Rory’s minds.

“Where are you going?” Thorax asked, making the Doctor’s guess now invalid.

Rhen took his left hand out of his pocket, holding up what seemed to be a memory stick for a computer. It was much more advanced looking though than the ones the Doctor had seen on present day Earth.

“Is that . . . ?” The Doctor began, but didn’t finish, he already knew his answer before he’d asked.

“Yup. That’s your friends’ minds.” He answered, shaking the stick a little.

He replaced it in his pocket as he came to a room, the door was already opened fully. He strode it, followed closely by the Doctor and Thorax. The lighting in the room was magnificently bright, shining down on them as hot as the sun. It was like a sauna. The equipment and machinery was all very high-tech, but it would have to be if you were messing with people’s heads. Power surges or fluctuations could ruin a person’s mind, which was why it was so dangerous. The electrical hum of energy was the only sound in the room, aside for the footsteps. In the far corner of the room was a large, white, surgical chair – much like the one that the Doctor had been tied into during Rhen’s psycho episode. The Doctor plonked Amy down in the chair, strapping her in so that she wouldn’t try running off should anything happen – that would be disastrous.

“Do you know how to work this stuff?” The Doctor asked Rhen, through all the training and experiences he’d had, he’d never been good with mind swapping.

“Oh. Yeah. Of course I know how to work it. I’m the commander, remember.” Rhen answered, heading for a little sealed off glass booth.

The Doctor followed, so did Thorax – dragging along Rory behind him; he’d become fed up carrying him in his arms. Rhen closed the glass door gently behind them, then locked it. A few clicking noises later, the edged around the door had sealed shut with metal plating. Rhen stuck the memory stick into the computer in front of him, a couple of bleeping sounds told him that it had loaded up and he typed something in. A glow started to form in the room, telling the Doctor that the program was working – for now that was. He’d never been so nervous in his life, even through the torture and when he was shot towards that star with only five minutes on his counter. He could lose his friend forever if anything went wrong, one, tiny mistake on Rhen’s part could mean certain death for Amy. The Doctor however, took comfort in the fact that at least she wouldn’t feel any pain.

“How long should it take?” The Doctor questioned, looking at Amy through the glass.

“Up to a minute.” Rhen answered, typing things into the computer.

The Doctor saw him typing in the corner of his eye and that just made him feel even worse. Even a typo could be the end for his friend. The Doctor took a deep breath and let out an impatient sigh. The minute went by very slowly, each second took almost ten times the amount. It felt like it had been half an hour before the Doctor started to see flickering movements behind Amy’s eyelid. This caused him to lean forwards expectantly, his hands resting on the corner of the wall – which had a gentle metal slope from the window to the floor. The machinery cut off all of a sudden then, making the Doctor panic for a second before he realised that the minute was up and that it was meant to happen. He rushed to the door and frowned at the lock, it took Rhen a few moments to twist the key – had he been any slower the Doctor probably would have kicked his foot through the glass. He jumped down the ramp leading to the booth and darted to Amy’s side. His fingers rapped on the chair as he waited impatiently for Amy’s eyes to open.

And sure enough they did, at first, it was just a couple of blinks – then they opened wide, probably out of shock. They stayed that way until the Doctor came into her sight, smiling manically at her.

“Welcome back to reality . . . a bit.” The Doctor said, still leaning on the chair.

“Gee. Thanks.” She replied, trying to sit up, but found herself tied down. “Why am I stuck to the chair?” She asked.

“Oh. Woops.” The Doctor said, removing the Velcro from around her wrists.

“Yeah. Right. Where am I, and what happened?” Amy demanded, looking at the Doctor whose hair had slipped in front of his eye so he could hardly see.

“Well. You know that guy you were hanging around with, he wasn’t that great company to keep.” He said, not really explaining anything.

“I know that.” Amy said, frowning.

“He put your brain on a memory stick.” The Doctor said, strait forward.

“He what?!” Amy yelled, sitting up suddenly – almost bashing heads with the Doctor, except he pulled out of the way just in time.

“Put your brain on a memory stick.” The Doctor repeated. “So of course you lost your memory. He had been planning on replacing your empty mind with one of those angels. But Rhen here stopped him in his thoughts.” The Doctor said, crediting Rhen for it.

“Well I guess I should thank him. But. This is all his fault anyway.” Amy said, kicking her legs over the edge of the chair.

Amy had only just realised something strange about the Doctor, she asked:”What happened to your bow-tie?”


	20. The Crying Child

After Rory had taken part in the same procedure that Amy had, Amy, Rory, Rhen and Thorax all followed the Doctor out of the room as he walked off down the corridor.

“Where are you going Doctor?” Amy asked, catching up to walk beside him.

“There’s something off about the angle of this ship – can you feel it?” He asked Amy, not turning his head away from what was in front of him.

Amy looked around at the walls, and the floor, even the ceiling, but nothing seemed different for her. “Nope.” She replied quickly.

“That’s a shame.” The Doctor turned and started walking backwards – talking to Rhen and Thorax at the same time. “I need you two to get to the bridge. I think the course might have changed.”

Rhen nodded. “And what are you going to do?” He asked, curious.

“I have to find out where Clark has hidden all of these darned angels.” The Doctor said, still walking backwards.

Rory caught up with the Doctor and Amy as Thorax and Rhen wandered off in the opposite direction from them.

“How exactly are we going to do that? What with a ship this size?” Rory asked the Doctor, looking passed Amy.

“I have absolutely no idea. But I want to start by heading back to the cells. I remember something, but I can’t think what it was now.” The Doctor said, squinting as he hit the back of his head trying to picture what it was.

“Oh. Right.” Rory said as soon as the Doctor turned around.

The Doctor started sprinting off towards the elevator, remembering where it was. His hair was continuously flapping in his eyes as he ran, so he put his loose fringe back behind his ear. The three of them rushed round the corner, practically skidding the rest of the way to the elevator. The Doctor was glad that the doors had stayed open, there was no time to lose. He jumped into it, feeling the lift bounce up and down with the sudden weight. Rory and Amy followed, not so enthusiastically though. The Doctor concentrated on the numbers on the side of the lift, not sure which floor they had come from. But, because they had been in a prison, he thought they were probably on the second to last floor before – just above the cargo bay. The Doctor pressed that button, not that he had any idea if it would work or not. The doors slowly hissed closed and the Doctor leaned back on the wall, before realising he’d forgotten something.

“Oh!” He breathed, sticking his hand in his pocket. He held his fist out to Amy.

Amy looked at him, confused, but held her hand underneath his – so that whatever he was about to let go of didn’t crash to the floor.

“I found this.” The Doctor said, letting the chain slip from his grasp into Amy’s open palm.

“Oh . . . I was wondering where that got too. Thanks.” Amy said, shoving it back on her wrist.

“No problem.” The Doctor gave a mock salute as the doors opened.

“Oh my God . . . “ Rory said, looking at the sight that greeted them.

The Doctor turned his head to see what Rory was complaining about, as did Amy.

There was practically a wall of angels, blocking their exit from the lift. There was a way around it, if you took your eyes off of one of them, but that wasn’t really the best idea. The floor that they had arrived on was also almost pitch black, the lights must have gone out to save some kind of power – whether that was because it was damaged or something weird was going on the Doctor couldn’t tell.

“Who wants to go first?” The Doctor asked, his hands in his pockets.

The silence was a little awkward.

“Okay. That tells me everything I need to know.” The Doctor said, sighing. He crept out of the lift, hoping that the doors didn’t decide to close whilst he was navigating the angels. His life was literally in the hands of Amy, Rory and a pair of mechanical pieces of metal. He pressed his back against the wall as he avoided the first pair of stone arms, ducking out of the way since he wasn’t thin enough to stay standing.

“Amy. Rory. Please. Do. Not. Blink.” The Doctor said, each word coming out as its own little sentence.

He ducked under the arms of yet another angel, his head merely centimetres from touching it – he was already on the floor, crawling on his hands and knees. The next step would be an army crawl, and the Doctor hadn’t tried one of those yet.

Eventually, all three of them managed to get through, and they went on creeping backwards down the corridor until the angels were out of sight. They still refused to turn away though, knowing those angels would come bounding down that corridor as soon as they took their eyes away from the entrance.

“Are we just going to walk backwards all the way there?” Amy asked, looking over her shoulder for a couple of seconds.

“Got any better ideas?” The Doctor asked.

“What? Like . . . get the hell out of here?” Amy said as if it should have been obvious.

“Amy . . .” The Doctor sighed her name, shaking his head.

Amy apologised and continued walking backwards, occasionally looking over her shoulder. They could blink now and again, since there was three of them they’d always have an eye open – unless they were really unlucky and blinked all at the same time, though the chance of that happening was probably about one in a hundred.

“Where exactly are we going?” Rory asked quizzically.

“To the open plan area near the room I was tortured in.” The Doctor said, straightforward.

Every time the Doctor spoke about the torture, Amy’s stomach hurt, like she’d just been punched. It was rather strange and hard to get a grip on.

“Alright. But why?” Rory asked, even though he’d questioned this earlier.

“I don’t know. I told you that already.” The Doctor said, turning another corner.

“Agh . . . “ Rory hated going places for no reason, it always turned out to be a waste of time – or alternatively cause a waste of time.

The three of them came into the open plan area and stopped dead. The silent crying sounded in the dim light, the noise that the Doctor had heard before. It made the Doctor wonder how someone could cry for so long, yet not fall asleep.

“You two. Keep a look at the corridor.” The Doctor said, pointing at the exit.

“Doctor, what is that?” Amy asked, confused.

“It’s a child . . . “ The Doctor said, wandering off to the back of the room.

“How do you know?” Amy asked, turning away from the corridor for a couple of moments, letting Rory deal with the not blinking part.

“Because it sounds familiar . . .”


	21. The Lie

“He lied to me . . .” The Doctor said to himself when he opened the door to the room in which the crying had come from.

Sitting, curled up in the corner with her arms wrapped around her legs, was a teenage girl. She looked around seventeen years old, but looks can be deceiving – the Doctor should know that at least. Her head rested on her knees, her dark brown hair falling to the middle of her shins. The Doctor stood in the door way, seemingly glued to the spot with his hand resting on the edge of the door to make sure he didn’t collapse. If the Doctor was right about who he thought this child was, it would change everything. The silence stretched on and on, reaching across five minutes before Amy spoke up from outside of the room.

“Aren’t you going to get on with it? I’m not standing here forever.” She said, frowning.

The Doctor still didn’t speak, not sure if he could without his voice breaking.

The girl in the corner looked up, hearing Amy’s voice. Her eyes were a light, greyish-blue, but underneath were the marks of someone who hadn’t slept in a while.

“L-Light?” The Doctor stuttered the question, managing to get it through his lips which refused to co-operate with his brain out of shock.

The assumed Light looked at the Doctor through her grey eyes, her fringe falling in front of them, hiding her expression. “You know my name?” She asked in a gentle voice, even though she had been crying, it didn’t show.

This proved that the Doctor was right, eventually, anger took over the shock, causing his grip on the door to tighten.

“How could he?” The Doctor said through gritted teeth. “It’s not possible.” He attempted to convince himself that he was dreaming; that all of this was a lie.

The girl continued to stare at the Doctor, waiting for an answer patiently – she’d been waiting patiently for a while now. The Doctor just looked back, not able to believe what he was seeing.

“Who are you?” Light asked the Doctor, feeling like she actually needed an answer.

The Doctor took a moment to answer, fighting with himself through the decision of whether it was right or not to talk to her. “It’s me . . . I mean, the Doctor.” He said, forcing his way through the answer since it refused to come on its own.

Light seemed just as shocked as the Doctor now, her hands slipped from around her legs, slapping against the hard ground as she tried to steady herself. “This is some kind of co-incidence right?” Light asked, also finding this meeting impossible to believe.

The Doctor shook his head as an answer.

Light clambered to her feet, slipping a couple of times as if she hadn’t actually walked in a while. “But that’s . . . that’s . . . that’s . . . “ She couldn’t seem to get through the sentence.

“Impossible.” The Doctor finished.

After a while, Light seemed to come to terms with what was going on, and - even though her instinct told her to get out before she did something wrong – ran up to the Doctor and hugged him tightly. The Doctor reacted differently though, instead of returning the embrace he pushed her away – not harshly though, just gently.

“You were dead . . . “ The Doctor said, looking down at Light since she was so short.

“And?” Light said, her expression was strange, as if telling the Doctor something that he should have known.

“But you were dead, dead.” The Doctor said harshly, still quite unable to believe what was going on at the moment.

Light looked at the Doctor for a few seconds before saying. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.” The Doctor said, looking over her head at the wall as if he couldn’t bare to look at her.

Light sighed, looking down, she could tell this childish rivalry still hadn’t come to an end. “How could you have missed me? You tried to kill me.”

The Doctor shook his head, looking down at Light. “I didn’t try to kill you. Though it may seem that way. I killed everyone on the planet, so it wasn’t anything personal.” The Doctor told her innocently.

Light nodded in realisation. “No. I understand how hard it must have been.” She said, trying to soften the argument building up between them.

Amy was behind the Doctor’s shoulder then, after leaving Rory to do the staring at the dark corridor. “Who’s that?” Amy asked the Doctor.

Light looked up at Amy, wondering just as much who she was.

The Doctor looked at Amy, then back at Light, he wasn’t sure whether to tell her or not, but it was simpler than trying to keep it a secret. “She’s my sister.”


	22. Warning

Amy gasped. “You have a sister!? And you never told me!?” She suddenly felt very hurt.

“I had a sister, I thought she was dead, Amy. I didn’t think it was important.” The Doctor said, defending himself.

Light looked between the two of them as they argued, not sure what to think.

“That doesn’t matter! You have to tell me these things!” She protested, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Well I’m sorry for being secretive; I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to have my own problems.” The Doctor frowned.

It was then that the sirens picked up again, red lights began flashing around the rooms on the lower deck, and possibly the rest of the ship too. A voice rang through the speakers on the wall.

“Doctor!” Thorax’s voice called through the microphone.

The Doctor looked up, seeing if there was any way that he could speak back – apparently not.

“You were right. Not only is the ship’s angle slightly off, but we’re heading straight for a star!”

This sounded all too familiar to the Doctor, he wondered briefly why they didn’t just turn around.

“You have to get up to the bridge now! Take the elevator right up to the highest level. Stick to the main corridor.” Thorax told him.

The Doctor didn’t wait any longer, he rushed from the room – grabbing Light’s hand and pulling her along with him. Amy followed, grabbing Rory on her way passed he almost tripped with the force Amy had put on him.

“How the hell did we manage to do that?!” Amy asked loudly, referring to the fact that they were heading straight for one of the five stars surrounding this small, non-existent universe.

“It was probably my fault when I recalibrated their systems.” The Doctor said.

“What? You mean when you ripped a massive hole in the wall?”

“How did you know that was me?”

“I kind of guessed when you were the only one not there.” Amy said, glaring at the back of the Doctor’s head.

Surprisingly, they met no angels on their way to the bridge, but when they did eventually come bounding into the room the Doctor let go of Light’s hand and ran up to Rhen. It took a couple of seconds, but eventually Rhen received a punch in the face.

“You disgust me.” The Doctor said, looking at the man on the floor.

“What the hell was that for!?” Rhen yelled, his palm resting on his cheek where the Doctor’s fist had collided with his face.

“Oh. I don’t know. Maybe because of what you’ve done to other people – me and my sister included!” The Doctor shouted at him.

Rhen looked passed the Doctor to the girl standing in the door way. “That’s your sister?” He said, pointing at Light. He wore a confused expression.

“Well duh. Who else is it going to be?” The Doctor said, folding his arms angrily.

Rhen stared at the Doctor for a couple of seconds before climbing to his feet, Amy and Rory watched on cautiously, ready to jump in as soon as Rhen snapped. They didn’t have to wait long, Rhen slowly folded up his sleeves – revealing his long muscular arms. His hands closed into fists as he looked down at the Doctor.

“You’re quite the cocky one aren’t you?” Rhen told him.

The Doctor began to feel a bit puny against his size, and slowly began to wish he hadn’t pursued this fight. “A bit . . . I suppose.” The Doctor said innocently.

Rhen was now so close to the Doctor, when he bent down to look at him the Doctor had to bend his back – shrinking down even more. He laughed nervously.

“This is funny now is it?” Rhen asked, grabbing a handful of the Doctor’s hair and making him bend back even further.

Amy began jumping up and down on her toes, wanting to help the Doctor but not wanting to get into any trouble.

“Ow, ow.” The Doctor complained, squinting as he followed the tug of Rhen’s hand.

“Well then here’s some news for you. You. Disgust. Me.” Rhen said, using the Doctor’s own words against him.

Rhen shoved the Doctor away angrily, causing him to slip and fall to the floor – when Rhen turned his back the Doctor glared at him. Amy rushed to his side to make sure he was okay.

“I thought you needed my help. I don’t know if you deserve it anymore.” The Doctor said.

“Empty threats Doctor . . .” Rhen replied, moving towards the control panel at the front of the room.

“Fine then.” The Doctor said. He stood up, rubbed himself off then left the room.

Amy thought about following him, as did Rory, but he came back into the room before they could get moving. He re-entered carrying a very large metal pipe that he must have spotted coming into the room. He moved it into a comfortable position and strode passed Rhen, pushing him out of the way as he lifted it into the air.

“Doctor! What are you trying to do?!” Amy protested, able to tell what he was about to attempt.

“Think of it as insurance.” The Doctor said, then brought the pipe down on the console.

It flickered, sparks were sent flying everywhere. Again and again he smashed the console as much as it took to get rid of all of his anger. Eventually, when he thought his work was done, he dropped the pipe – which rolled on the ground before stopping at the wall. He rubbed his hands together and smiled.

“Ah. There we go.” He said, running a hand through his hair.

What he hadn’t noticed was the rage building inside Rhen. He should have thought of this before picking on murdering psychopaths.


	23. Anger

The Doctor turned to find Rhen right in his face, glaring at him.

“Now that that’s done, you do need me.” The Doctor smiled, walking around him.

“No we don’t.” Rhen said, grabbing the Doctor’s jacket and dragging him back towards him.

“Whoa . . . “ The Doctor said whilst trying to keep his balance. “Uh. Yeah. You do.”

“No we don’t.” Rhen repeated, he moved his hands around so that he was now holding the Doctor’s shirt, then pushed the Doctor towards the console – his head smashed down on the sharp splintered metal.

He was lucky not to receive an injury. “Phew.” The Doctor said, looking at a piece of metal sticking up that could have easily driven through both sides of his skull. “That was close.”

“This time you’re not going to be so lucky.” Rhen said, dragging him up off the console once more.

“Oh dear.” The Doctor said, looking nervously at the panel.

“Indeed, Doctor.” Rhen pushed him forcefully down, or he’d began to before someone grabbed his arm.

Light was glaring angrily at Rhen. “Why don’t you ever defend yourself?” She asked the Doctor, even though she wasn’t looking at him.

“I don’t know. ‘Cus I don’t feel like it?”

Rhen looked between them for a couple of seconds, confused, then he eventually had enough and pried Light’s hand off of his arm. Light stumbled back, catching herself before she fell to the floor. Rhen looked away from Light, back at the Doctor. “Sorry.” He said, smirking.

The massive clunking noise echoed through the whole room as Rhen slipped to the floor. Behind him, Amy was breathing heavily through the adrenaline, holding the massive pipe that was now bloodied at the end.

The Doctor, holding himself up from the panel which he almost fell on after Rhen had let him go, looked down at Rhen, then at Amy disbelievingly.

“That felt good.” Amy said, dropping the pipe to the floor, but still holding one end.

The Doctor frowned at this. “I thought you were better than that.”

“I have to get my anger out somehow.” She frowned, looking at the unconscious Rhen.

“I suppose so. I’m probably a great influence on you too.” The Doctor said, grinning.

“Yeah. Come on. We should get out of here before we melt.” Amy told the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded and started towards the door, he turned back when Light didn’t move. “Coming?” He asked her.

Light shook her head, hanging it at the same time.

This made the Doctor pause and think for a second “Why not?”

“Because it’s not right. You said yourself I was supposed to be dead.” She said, shrugging. “So, I’m dead.”

The Doctor shook his head. “If you lived . . . then . . . then . . .” The Doctor smacked his head angrily, trying to convince her to come.

Light shook her head again. “I can’t, Doctor, you know I can’t, don’t force yourself to do something you will regret.”

“But-“ The Doctor tried to protest, but Light interrupted him.

“No.” She said sternly.

The Doctor shook his head, his eyes sorrowful.

“Doctor, we can’t stay much longer.” Amy said, grabbing his arm.

“You can’t stay . . . you can’t.” The Doctor tried again.

“I have to, now go.” Light said, and then walked off towards the window.

The Doctor stared after her, but was dragged away by the force of Amy’s tug – also helped by Rory since the Doctor refused to come willingly.

It was a silent walk back to the TARDIS, the Doctor was hanging his head with guilt and sadness. The best Amy could do to get him to cheer up was to reach out and hold his hand, she was grateful when he accepted this. Rory was following behind them, looking at the interior of the ship before they left, he tried not to pay attention to Amy’s way of comforting the Doctor.

“If there was just some way . . . “ The Doctor said out loud, still thinking of somehow he could help Light.

“The more you think about it, the more it will hurt when you realise it won’t work.” Amy said, giving the Doctor’s hand a squeeze.

“I know Amy, I know.” He said, sighing as they came to the door of the TARDIS.

Thorax had followed them; he wasn’t just going to stay here to die.

“So, this is your spaceship?” Thorax asked, looking shocked at the blue box.

The Doctor nodded glumly and freed his hand from Amy’s so that he could open it.

“Not much of . . . oh . . .” He had been about to speak against the thought of being cramped up in it when the door opened.

All four of them eventually entered the TARDIS, the Doctor busying himself with the controls and Amy and Rory looking amused at Thorax’s face.

The Doctor looked at the doors before the central column of glass started heaving, he closed his eyes painfully and said. “I’m sorry, Light . . .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you made it to the end, I'm grateful, because this was my first ever fan fiction!


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